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Wgt iLeatitwg jFactg of ffiistorg Series. 
THE 

LEADING FACTS OF ENGLISH 
HISTORY. 



BY 

D. H. MONTGOMERY. 



Nothing in the past is dead to the man who would learn how the present 
came to be what it is." — Stubbs : Constitutional History of England. 



SECOND EDITION, REVISED. 



BOSTON, U.S.A.: 

GINN & COMPANY, PUBLISHERS. 

I895- 



Entered according to Act of Congress, in the year 1887, by 

D. H. MONTGOMERY, 
in the Office of the Librarian of Congress, at Washington. 



Entered according to Act of Congress, in the year 1889, by 

D. H. MONTGOMERY, 
in the Office of the Librarian of Congress, at Washington. 



All Rights Reserved. 



Y\ 



;;;.!'" 



i»*. -• 



« ; • • 



Typography by J. S. Cushing & Co., Boston, U.S.A 
Presswork by Ginn & Co., Boston, U.S.A. 



I dedicate this book 

to my friend 3* 3* J9L, who generously 

gave time, labor, and valuable 

suggestions towards its 

preparation for 

the pVess. 



Leading Facts of History Series. 

By D. H. MONTGOMERY. 
* 

THE LEADING FACTS OF AMERICAN HISTORY. 

With numerous Illustrations, Maps, and Tables. Mailing Price, 
$1.10; Introduction Price, $1.00. 

THE LEADING FACTS OF ENGLISH HISTORY. 

(ReviseH Edition.) With numerous Maps and Tables. Mailing 
Price, $1.25; Introduction Price, $1.12. 

THE LEADING FACTS OF- FRENCH HISTORY. 

With numerous Maps and Tables. Mailing Price, $1.25; Intro- 
duction Price, $1.12. 



Ginn & Company, Publishers. 



PREFACE. 



MOST of the materials for this book were gathered by the writer 
during several years' residence in England. 

The attempt is here made to present them in a manner that shall 
illustrate the great law of national growth, in the light thrown upon 
it by the foremost English historians. 

The authorities for the different periods will be found in the 
List of Books on page 434; but the author desires to particularly 
acknowledge his indebtedness to the works of Gardiner, Guest, 
and Green, and to the excellent constitutional histories of Taswell- 
Langmead and Ransome. 



SECOND EDITION. 

The present edition has been very carefully revised throughout, 
and numerous maps and genealogical tables have been added. 

The author's hearty thanks are due to G. Mercer Adam, Esq., of 
Toronto, Canada ; Prof. W. F. Allen, of The University of Wisconsin; 
President Myers, of Belmont College, Ohio ; Prof. George W. Knight, 
of Ohio State University ; and to Miss M. A. Parsons, teacher of his- 
tory in the High School, Winchester, Mass., for the important aid 

which they have kindly rendered. 

DAVID H. MONTGOMERY, 

Cambridge, Mass. 



CONTENTS. 



SECTION PAGE 

I. Britain before History begins ; . , . , I 

II. The Relation of the Geography of England to its History . , . 12 

III. A Civilization which did not civilize ; Roman Britain . , . , 18 

IV. The Coming of the Saxons; Britain becomes England 1 . ... 31 
V. The Coming of the Normans 58 

VI. The Angevins, or Plantagenets ; Rise of the English Nation . . 87 

VII. The Self-Destruction of Feudalism . 150 

VIII. Absolutism of the Crown; the Reformation; the New Learning. 179 
IX. The Stuart Period; the Divine Right of Kings vs. the Divine 

Right of the People 229 

X. The American Revolution ; the House of Commons the Ruling 

Power; the Era of Reform 306 

XI. A General Summary of English Constitutional History ..... 391 

Table of Principal Dates 421 

Descent of the English Sovereigns 432 

List of Books 434 

Statistics 438 

Index 440 

1 Each section or period is followed by a general view of that period. 



Vlll CONTENTS. 



MAPS. 

MAP PAGK 

I. County Map of England and Wales (in colors) . Frontispiece. 

II. Britain before its Separation from the Continent 4 

III. Roman Britain 24 

IV. The Continental Home of the English, with their Successive 

Invasions of Britain 34 

V. The English Settlements and Kingdoms 38 

VI. Danish England 42 

VII. The Four Great Earldoms 44 

VIII. The Dominions of the Angevins, or Plantagenets ...... 88 

IX. The English Possessions in France, 1360 (in colors) .... 130 

X. England during the Wars of the Roses 174 

XI. The World as known in 1497, Reign of Henry VII., showing 

Voyages of Discovery by the Cabots and Others 1 86 

XII. Drake's Circumnavigation of the Globe, with the First English 

Colonies planted in America 218 

XIII. England during the Civil Wars of the Seventeenth Century . . 244 

XIV. Clive's Conquests in India 318 

XV. The British Empire at the Present Time 382 

XVI. Plan of a Manor 80 



THE 

LEADING FACTS OF ENGLISH HISTORY. 



&Kc 



I. 



This fortress built by Nature for herself 

Against infection and the hand of war; 

This happy breed of men, this little world, 

This precious stone set in the silver sea, 

Which serves it in the office of a wall, 

Or as a moat defensive to a house, 

Against the envy of less happier lands; 

This blessed plot, this earth, this realm, this England." 

Shakespeare, Richard II 



BRITAIN BEFORE WRITTEN HISTORY BEGINS. 

THE COUNTRY. 

1. Britain once a Part of the Continent. — The island of Great 
Britain has not always had its present form. Though separated 
from Europe now by the English Channel and the North Sea, yet 
there is abundant geological evidence that it was once a part of 
the continent. 

2. Proofs. — The chalk cliffs of Dover are really a continua- 
tion of the chalk of Calais, and the strait dividing them, which is 
nowhere more than thirty fathoms deep, 1 is simply the result of a 

1 The width of the Strait of Dover at its narrowest point is twenty-one miles. 
The bottom is a continuous ridge of chalk. If St. Paul's Cathedral were placed in 
the strait, midway between England and France, more than half of the building 
would be above the surface of the water. 



2 LEADING FACTS OF ENGLISH HISTORY. 

slight and comparatively recent depression in that chalk. The 
waters of the North Sea are also shallow, and in dredging, great 
quantities of the same fossil remains of land animals are brought 
up which are found buried in the soil of England, Belgium, and 
France. It would seem, therefore, that there can be no reason- 
able doubt that the bed of this sea, where these creatures made 
their homes, must once have been on a level with the countries 
whose shores it now washes. 

3. Appearance of the Country. — What we know to-day as 
England, was at that time a western projection of the continent, 
wild, desolate, and without a name. 1 The high hill ranges show 
unmistakable marks of the glaciers which once ploughed down their 
sides, and penetrated far into the valleys, as they still continue to 
do among the Alps. 

4. The Climate. — The climate then was probably like that of 
Greenland now. Europe was but just emerging, if, indeed, it had 
begun to finally emerge, from that long period during which the 
upper part of the northern hemisphere was buried under a vast 
field of ice and snow. 

5. Trees and Animals. — The trees and animals corresponded 
to the climate and the country. Forests of fir, pine, and stunted 
oak, such as are now found in latitudes much farther north, cov- 
ered the lowlands and the lesser hills. Through these roamed 
the reindeer, the mammoth, the wild horse, the bison or "buf- 
falo," and the cave-bear. 

MAN. — THE ROUGH-STONE AGE. 

6. His Condition. — Man seems to have taken up his abode in 
Britain before it was severed from the mainland. His condition 
was that of the lowest and most brutal savage. He probably stood 
apart, even from his fellow-men, in selfish isolation \ if so, he was 

1 See Map No. z, page 4. 



BRITAIN BEFORE WRITTEN HISTORY BEGINS. 3 

bound to no tribe, acknowledged no chief, obeyed no law. All 
his interests were centred in himself and in the little' group which 
constituted his family. 

7. How he lived. — His house was the first empty cave he 
found, or a rude rock-shelter made by piling up stones in some 
partially protected place. Here he dwelt during the winter. 
In summer, when his wandering life began, he built himself a 
camping place of branches and bark, under the shelter of an over- 
hanging cliff by the sea, or close to the bank of a river. He had 
no tools. When he wanted a fire he struck a bit of flint against 
a lump of iron ore, or made a flame by rubbing two dry sticks 
rapidly together. His only weapon was a club or a stone. As 
he did not dare encounter the larger and fiercer animals, he rarely 
ventured into the depths of the forests, but subsisted on the shell- 
fish he picked up along the shore, or on any chance game he 
might have the good fortune to kill, to which, as a relish, he added 
berries or pounded roots. 

8. His First Tools and Weapons. — In process of time he 
learned to make rough tools and weapons from pieces of flint, 
which he chipped to an edge by striking them together. When 
he had thus succeeded in shaping for himself a spear-point, or 
had discovered how to make a bow and to tip the arrows with a 
sharp splinter of stone, his condition changed. He now felt that 
he was a match for the beasts he had fled from before. Thus 
armed, he slew the reindeer and the bison, used their flesh for 
food, their skins for clothing, while he made thread from their 
sinews, and needles and other implements from their bones. Still, 
though he had advanced from his first helpless state, his life must 
have continued to be a constant battle with the beasts and the 
elements. 

9. His Moral and Religious Nature. —His moral nature was 
on a level with his intellect. No questions of conscience dis- 
turbed him. In every case of dispute might made right. 

His religion was the terror inspired by the forces and convul- 



4 LEADING FACTS OF ENGLISH HISTORY. 

sions of nature, and the dangers to which he was constantly 
exposed. Such, we have every reason to believe, was the condi- 
tion of the Cave-Man who first inhabited Britain, and the other 
countries of Europe and the East. 

10. Duration of the Rough-Stone Age. — The period in which 
he lived is called the Old or Rough- Stone Age, a name derived 
from the implements then in use. 

When that age began, or when it came to a close, are questions 
which at present cannot be answered. But we may measure the 
time which has elapsed since man appeared in Britain by the 
changes which have taken place in the country. We know that 
sluggish streams like the Avon, with whose channel the lapse of 
many centuries has made scarcely any material difference, have, 
little by little, cut their way down through beds of gravel till they 
have scooped out valleys sometimes a hundred feet deep. We 
know also the climate is wholly unlike now what it once was, and 
that the animals of that far-off period have either wholly disap- 
peared from the globe or are found only in distant regions. 

The men who were contemporary with them have vanished in 
like manner. But that they were contemporary we may feel sure 
from two well-established grounds of evidence. 

11. Remains of the Rough-Stone Age. — First, their flint knives 
and arrows are found in the caves, mingled with ashes and with the 
bones of the animals on which they feasted ; these bones having 
been invariably split in order that they might suck out the mar- 
row. 1 Next, we have the drawings they made of those very creat- 
ures scratched on a tusk or on a smooth piece of slate with a bit 
of sharp-pointed quartz. 2 Nearly everything else has perished ; 



1 Very few remains of the Cave-Men themselves have yet been found, and these 
with the most trifling exceptions have been discovered on the continent, especially 
in France and Switzerland. The first rough-stone implement found in England 
was dug up in Gray's Inn Road, London, in 1690. It is of flint, and in shape 
and size resembles a very large pear. It forms the nucleus of a collection in the 
British Museum. 

2 These drawings have been found in considerable number on the continent. 



No. 2. 

BRITAIN BEFORE ITS SEPARATION FROM THE CONTINENT OF EUROPE. 




To face page 4. 

The dark lines represent land, now submerged. 

The dotted area, that occupied by animals. 

The white land area, portions once covered by glaciers. 

The figures show the present depth of sea in fathoms. 

F. (France), T. (Thames), W. (Wales), S. (Scotland), I. (Ireland). 

?, doubtful area, but probably glacial. 



BRITAIN BEFORE WRITTEN HISTORY BEGINS. 5 

even their burial places, if they had any, have been swept away by 
the destroying action of time. Yet these memorials have come 
down to us, so many fragments of imperishable history, made by 
that primeval race who possessed no other means of recording the 
fact of their existence and their work. 

THE AGE OF POLISHED STONE. 

12. The Second Race; Britain an Island. — Following the 
Cave-Men, there came a higher race who took possession of the 
country ; these were the men of the New or Polished-Stone Age. 
When they reached Britain, it had probably become an island. 
Long before their arrival the land on the east and south had been 
slowly sinking, till at last the waters of the North Sea crept in and 
made the separation complete. The new-comers appear to have 
brought with them the knowledge of grinding and polishing stone, 
and of shaping it into hatchets, chisels, spears, and other weapons 
and utensils. 1 They did not, like the race of the Rough-Stone 
Period, depend upon such chance pieces of flint as they might 
pick up, and which would be of inferior quality, but they had 
regular quarries for digging their supplies. They also obtained 
polished-stone implements of a superior kind from the inhabi- 
tants of the continent, which they in turn got by traffic with Asiatic 
countries. 

13. Government and Mode of Life. — These people were 
organized into tribes or clans under the leadership of a chief. 
They lived in villages or " pit circles " consisting of a group of 
holes dug in the ground, each large enough to accommodate a 
family. These pits were roofed over with branches covered with 

• 

Thus far the only one discovered in England is the head of a horse scratched or 
cut in bone. It came from the upper cave-earth of Robin Hood Cave, in the 
Cresswell Crags, Derbyshire. See Dawkins' Early Man in Britain, page 185. 

1 Grinding or polishing stone: this was done by rubbing the tools or weapons, 
after they had been chipped into shape, on a smooth, fiat stone. The natives of 
Australia still practise this art. 



6 LEADING FACTS OF ENGLISH HISTORY. 

slabs of baked clay. The entrance to them was a long, inclined 
passage, through which the occupants crawled on their hands and 
knees. 

Armed with their stone hatchets, these men were able to cut 
down trees and to make log canoes in which they crossed to the 
mainland. They could also undertake those forest clearings which 
had been impossible before. The point, however, of prime differ- 
ence and importance was their mode of subsistence. 

14. Farming and Cattle-Raising. — Unlike their predecessors, 
this second race did not depend on hunting and fishing alone, 
but were herdsmen and farmers as well. They had brought from 
other countries such cereals as wheat and barley, and such domes- 
tic animals as the ox, sheep, hog, horse, and dog. Around their 
villages they cultivated fields of grain, while in the adjacent woods 
and pastures they kept herds of swine and cattle. 

15. Arts. — They had learned the art of pottery, and made 
dishes and other useful vessels of clay, which they baked in the 
fire. They raised flax and spun and wove it into coarse, substan- 
tial cloth. They may also have had woollen garments, though no 
remains of any have reached us, perhaps because they are more 
perishable than linen. They were men of small stature, with dark 
hair and complexion, and it is supposed that they are represented 
in Great Britain to-day by the inhabitants of Southern Wales. 

16. Burial of the Dead. — They buried their dead in long 
mounds, or barrows, some of which are upward of three hun- 
dred feet in length. These barrows were often made by setting 
up large, rough slabs of stone so as to form one or more chambers 
which were afterward covered with earth. In some parts of Eng- 
land these burial mounds are very common, and in Wiltshire, sev- 
eral hundred occur withfn the limits of an hour's walk. 

During the last twenty years many of these mounds have been 
opened and carefully explored. Not only the remains of the 
builders have been discovered in them, but with them their tools 
and weapons. In addition to these, earthen dishes for holding 



BRITAIN BEFORE WRITTEN HISTORY BEGINS. J 

food and drink have been found, placed there it is supposed, to 
supply the wants of the spirits of the departed, as the American 
Indians still do in their interments. When a chief or great man 
died, it appears to have been the custom of the tribe to hold 
a funeral feast, and the number of cleft human skulls dug up in 
such places has led to the belief that prisoners of war may have 
been sacrificed and their flesh eaten by the assembled guests in 
honor of the dead. Be that as it may, there are excellent grounds 
for supposing that these tribes were constantly at war with each 
other, and that their battles were characterized by all the fierce- 
ness and cruelty which uncivilized races nearly everywhere exhibit. 



THE BRONZE AGE. 

17. The Third Race. — But great as was the progress which the 
men of the New or Polished-Stone Age had made, it was des- 
tined to be surpassed. A people had appeared in Europe, though 
at what date cannot yet be determined, who had discovered how 
to melt and mingle two important metals, copper and tin. 

18. Superiority of Bronze to Stone. — The product of that 
mixture, named bronze, perhaps from its brown color, had this 
great advantage : a stone tool or weapon, though hard, is 
brittle ; but bronze is not only hard, but tough. Stone, again, 
cannot be ground to a thin cutting edge, whereas bronze 
can. Here, then, was a new departure. Here was a new 
power. From that period the bronze axe and the bronze sword, 
wielded by the muscular arms of a third and stronger race, be- 
came the symbols of a period appropriately named the Age of 
Bronze. The men thus equipped invaded Britain. They drove 
back or enslaved the possessors of the soil. They conquered the 
island, settled it, and held it as their own until the Roman legions, 
armed with swords of steel, came in turn to conquer them. 

19. Who the Bronze-Men were, and how they lived. — The 
Bronze-Men may be regarded as offshoots of the Celts, a large- 



8 LEADING FACTS OF ENGLISH HISTORY. 

limbed, fair-haired, fierce-eyed people, that originated in Asia, and 
overran Central and Western Europe. Like the men of the Age 
of Polished Stone, they lived in settlements under chiefs and pos- 
sessed a rude sort of government. Their villages were built above 
ground and consisted of circular houses somewhat resembling In- 
dian wigwams. They were constructed of wood, chinked in with 
clay, having pointed roofs covered with reeds, with an opening to 
let out the smoke and let in the light. Around these villages the 
inhabitants dug a deep ditch for defence, to which they added a 
rampart of earth surmounted by a palisade of stout sticks, or by 
felled trees piled on each other. They kept sheep and cattle. 
They raised grain, which they deposited in subterranean store- 
houses for the winter. They not only possessed all the arts of 
the Stone -Men, but in addition, they were skilful workers in gold, 
of which they made necklaces and bracelets. They also manu- 
factured woollen cloth of various textures and brilliant colors. 

They buried their dead in round barrows or mounds, making 
for them the same provision that the Stone-Men did. Though 
divided into tribes and scattered over a very large area, yet they 
all spoke the same language ; so that a person would have been 
understood if he had asked for bread and cheese in Celtic any- 
where from the borders of Scotland to the southern boundaries 
of France. 

20. Greek Account of the Bronze-Men of Britain. —At what 
time the Celts came into Britain is not known, though some 
writers suppose that it was about 500 b.c. However that may be, 
we learn something of their mode of life two centuries later from 
the narrative of Pytheas, 1 a learned Greek navigator and geographer 
who made a voyage to Britain at that time. He says he saw plenty 
of grain growing, and that the farmers gathered the sheaves at 
harvest into large barns, where they threshed it under cover, the 
fine weather being so uncertain in the island that they could not 
do it out of doors, as in countries farther south. Here, then we 



1 See Pytheas, in Rhys' Celtic Britain or Elton's Origins of English History. 



BRITAIN BEFORE WRITTEN HISTORY BEGINS. 9 

have proof that the primitive Britons saw quite as little of the 
sun as their descendants do now. Another characteristic discov- 
ery made by Pytheas was that the farmers of that day had learned 
to make beer and liked it. So that here, again, the primitive 
Briton was in no way behind his successors. 

21. Early Tin Trade of Britain. — Of their skill in mining 
Pytheas does not speak, though from that date, and perhaps many 
centuries earlier, the inhabitants of the southern part of the island 
carried on a brisk trade in tin ore with merchants of the Medi- 
terranean. Indeed, if tradition can be depended upon, Hiram, 
king of Tyre, who reigned over the Phoenicians, a people particu- 
larly skilful in making bronze, and who aided Solomon in building 
the Jewish temple, may have obtained his supplies of tin from the 
British Isles. At any rate, about the year 300 B.C., a certain 
Greek writer speaks of the country as then well known, calling it 
Albion, or the " Land of the White Cliffs." 

22. Introduction of Iron. — About a century after that name 
was given, the use of bronze began to be supplemented to some 
extent by the introduction of iron. Csesar tells us that rings of it 
were employed for money; if so, it was probably by tribes in 
the north of the island, for the men of the south had not only 
gold and silver coins at that date, but what is more, they had 
learned how to counterfeit them. 

Such were the inhabitants the Romans found when they in- 
vaded Britain in the first century before the Christian era. Rude 
as these people seemed to Csesar as he met them in battle array 
clad in skins, with their faces stained with the deep blue dye 
of the woad plant, yet they proved no unworthy foemen even 
for his veteran troops. 

23. The Religion of the Primitive Britons ; the Druids. — 

We have seen that they held some dim faith in an overrul- 
ing power and in a life beyond the grave, since they offered 
human sacrifices to the one, and buried the warrior's spear with 



10 LEADING FACTS OF ENGLISH HISTORY. 

him, that he might be provided for the other. Furthermore, the 
Britons when Caesar invaded the country had a regularly organ- 
ized priesthood, the Druids, who appear to have worshipped the 
heavenly bodies. They dwelt in the depths of the forests, and 
venerated the oak and the mistletoe. There in the gloom and 
secrecy of the woods they raised their altars ; there, too, they 
offered up criminals to propitiate their gods. They acted not 
only as interpreters of the divine will, but they held the sav- 
age passions of the people in check, and tamed them as wild 
beasts are tamed. Besides this, they were the repositories of 
tradition, custom, and law. They were also prophets, judges, 
and teachers. Lucan, the Roman poet, declared he envied them 
their belief in the indestructibility of the soul, since it banished 
that greatest of all fears, the fear of death. Caesar tells us that 
" they did much inquire, and hand down to the youth concerning 
the stars and their motions, concerning the magnitude of the 
earth, concerning the n iture of things, and the might and power 
of the immortal godo." 1 They did more ; for they not only trans- 
mitted their beliefs and hopes from generation to generation, but 
they gave them architectural power and permanence in the mas- 
sive columns of hewn stone, which they raised in that temple open 
to the sky, the ruins of which are still to be seen on Salisbury 
Plain. There, on one of those fallen blocks, Carlyle and Emerson 
sat and discussed the great questions of the Druid philosophy 
when they made their pilgrimage to Stonehenge 2 more than 
forty years ago. 

24. What we owe to Primitive or Prehistoric Man. — The 



1 See Caesar's Gallic War, Books IV. and V. (for these and other references, 
see list of books in Appendix) . 

2 Stonehenge (literally, the " Hanging Stones ") : this is generally considered 
to be the remains of a Druid temple. It is situated on a plain near Salisbury, Wilt- 
shire, in the south of England. It consists of a number of immense upright stones 
arranged in two circles, an outer and an inner, with a row of flat stones partly con- 
necting them at the top. The temple had no roof. An excellent description of it 
may be found in R. W. Emerson's English Traits. 



BRITAIN BEFORE WRITTEN HISTORY BEGINS. II 

Romans, indeed, looked down upon these people as barbarians ; 
yet it is well to bear in mind that all the progress which civili- 
zation has since made is built on the foundations which they slowly 
and painfully laid during unknown centuries of toil and strife. It 
is to them that we owe the taming of the dog, horse, and other 
domestic animals, the first working of metals, the beginning of 
agriculture and mining, and the establishment of many salutary 
customs which help not a little to bind society together to-day. 



12 LEADING FACTS OF ENGLISH HISTORY 



II. 



" Father Neptune one day to Dame Freedom did say, 
' If ever I lived upon dry land, 
The spot I should hit on would be little Britain.' 
Says Freedom, ' Why, that's my own island.' 
O, 'tis a snug little island, 
A right little, tight little island ! 
Search the world round, none can be found 
So happy as this little island." T. DiBDlN. 



THE GEOGRAPHY OF ENGLAND IN RELATION TO 
ITS HISTORY. 2 

25. Geography and History. — As material surroundings 
strongly influence individual life, so the physical features — situa- 
tion, surface, and climate — of a country have a marked effect on 
its people and its history. 

26. The Island Form; Race Settlements — the Romans. — 

The insular form of Britain gave it a certain advantage over the 
continent during the age when Rome was subjugating the barba- 
rians of Northern and Western Europe. As their invasions could 
only be by sea, they were necessarily on a comparatively small 
scale. This perhaps is one reason why the Romans did not suc- 
ceed in establishing their language and laws in the island. They 
conquered and held it for centuries, but they never destroyed its 
individuality; they never Latinized it as they did France and 
Spain. 



1 As this section necessarily contains references to events in the later periods of 
English history, it may be advantageously reviewed after the pupil has reached a 
somewhat advanced stage in the course. 



THE GEOGRAPHY OF ENGLAND. 1 3 

27. The Saxons. In like manner, when the power of Rome 
fell and the northern tribes overran and took possession of the 
Empire, they were in a measure shut out from Britain. Hence the 
Saxons, Angles, and Jutes could not pour down upon it in count- 
less hordes, but only by successive attacks. This had two results : 
first, the native Britons were driven back only by degrees — thus 
their hope and courage were kept alive and transmitted; next, 
the conquerors settling gradually in different sections built up inde- 
pendent kingdoms. When in time the whole country came under 
one sovereignty the kingdoms, which had now become shires or 
counties, retained through their chief men an important influence 
in the government, thus preventing the royal power from becoming 
absolute. 

28. The Danes and Normans. — In the course of the ninth, 
tenth, and eleventh centuries, the Danes invaded the island, got 
possession of the throne, and permanently established themselves 
in the northern half of England, as the country was then called. 
They could not come, however, with such overwhelming force as 
either to exterminate or drive out the English, but were compelled 
to unite with them, as the Normans did later in their conquest 
under Willam of Normandy. Hence, every conquest of the 
island ended in a compromise, and no one race got complete pre- 
dominance. Eventually all mingled and became one people. 

29. Earliest Names : Celtic. — The steps of English history may 
be traced to a considerable extent by geographical names. Thus 
the names of most of the prominent natural features, the hills, and 
especially the streams, are British or Celtic, carrying us back to 
the Bronze Age, and perhaps even earlier. Familiar examples 
of this are found in the name, Malvern Hills, and in the word 
Avon ("the water"), which is repeated many times in England 
and Wales. 

30. Roman Names. — The Roman occupation of Britain is 
shown by the names ending in "cester," or " Chester" (a corrup- 
tion of castra, a camp). Thus Leicester, Worcester, Dorches- 



[4 LEADING FACTS OF ENGLISH HISTORY. 

ter, Colchester, Chester, indicate that these places were walled 
towns and military stations. 

31. Saxon Names „ — On the other hand, the names of many of 
the great political divisions, especially in the south and east of 
England, mark the Saxon settlements, such as Essex (the East 
Saxons), Sussex (the South Saxons), Middlesex (the Middle or 
Central Saxons). In the same way the settlement of the two 
divisions of the Angles on the coast is indicated by the names 
Norfolk (the North folk) and Suffolk (the South folk) 1 . 

32. Danish Names. — The conquests and settlements of the 
Danes are readily traced by the Danish termination "by "(an 
abode or town), as in Derby, Rugby, Grimsby. Names of places 
so ending, which may be counted by hundreds, occur with 
scarce an exception north of London. They date back to the 
time when Alfred made the treaty of Wedmore, 2 by which the 
Danes agreed to confine themselves to the northern half of 
the country. 

33. Norman Names. — The conquest of England by the Nor- 
mans created but few new names. These, as in the case of Rich- 
mond and Beaumont, generally show where the invading race built 
a castle or an abbey, or where, as in Montgomeryshire, they con- 
quered and held a district in Wales. 

While each new invasion left its mark on the country, it will be 
seen that the greater part of the names of counties and towns 
are of Roman, Saxon, or Danish origin ; so that, with some few 
and comparatively unimportant exceptions, the map of England 
remains to-day in this respect what those races made it more than 
a thousand years ago. 

34. Eastern and Western Britain. — As the southern and 
eastern coasts of Britain were in most direct communication with 
the continent and were first settled, they continued until modern 



1 See Map No. 7, page 44. 

8 Treaty of Wedmore. See Map No. 6, page 42. 



THE GEOGRAPHY OF ENGLAND. 1 5 

times to be the wealthiest, most civilized, and progressive part of 
the island. Much of the western portion is a rough, wild country. 
To it the East Britons retreated, keeping their primitive customs 
and language, as in Wales and Cornwall. In all the great move- 
ments of religious or political reform, up to the middle of the 
seventeenth century, we find the people of the eastern half of the 
island on the side of a larger measure of liberty ; while those of 
the western half, were in favor of increasing the power of the king 
and the church. 

35. The Channel in English History. — The value of the Chan- 
nel to England, which has already been referred to in its early his- 
tory, may be traced down to our own day. 

In 1264, when Simon de Montfort was endeavoring to secure 
parliamentary representation for the people, the king (Henry III.) 
sought help from France. A fleet was got ready to invade the 
country and support him, but owing to unfavorable weather it was 
not able to sail in season, and Henry was obliged to concede the 
demands made for reform. 1 

Again, at the time of the threatened attack by the Spanish 
Armada, when the tempest had dispersed the enemy's fleet and 
wrecked many of its vessels, leaving only a few to creep back, 
crippled and disheartened, to the ports whence they had so 
proudly sailed, Elizabeth fully recognized the value of the " ocean- 
wall " to her dominions. 

So a recent French writer, 2 speaking of Napoleon's intended 
expedition, which was postponed and ultimately abandoned on 
account of a sudden and long-continued storm, says, "A few 
leagues of sea saved England from being forced to engage in a 
war, which, if it had not entirely trodden civilization under foot 3 
would have certainly crippled it for a whole generation." Finally, 
to quote the words of Prof. Goldwin Smith, " The English Channel, 
by exempting England from keeping up a large standing army 

1 Stubbs, Select Charters, 401. 

2 Madame de R6musat. 



l6 LEADING FACTS OF ENGLISH HISTORY. 

[though it has compelled her to maintain a powerful and expen- 
sive navy], has preserved her from military despotism, and enabled 
her to move steadily forward in the path of political progress." 

36. Climate. — With regard to the climate of England, — its 
insular form, geographical position, and especially its exposure to 
the warm currents of the Gulf Stream, give it a mild temperature 
particularly favorable to the full and healthy development of both 
animal and vegetable life. Nowhere is found greater vigor or 
longevity. Charles II. said that he was convinced that there 
was not a country in the world where one could spend so much 
time out of doors comfortably as in England ; and he might have 
added that the people fully appreciate this fact and habitually 
avail themselves of it. 

37. Industrial Division of England. — From an industrial 
and historical point of view, the country falls into two divisions. 
Let a line be drawn from Whitby, on the northeast coast, to 
Leicester, in the midlands, and thence to Exmouth, on the 
southwest coast. 1 On the upper or northwest side of that line 
will lie the coal and iron, which constitute the greater part of 
the mineral wealth and manufacturing industry of England ; and 
also all the large places except London. On the lower or south- 
east side of it will be a comparatively level surface of rich agri- 
cultural land, and most of the fine old cathedral cities 2 with their 
historic associations ; in a word, the England of the past as con- 
trasted with modern and democratic England, that part which has 
grown up since the introduction of steam. 

38. Commercial Situation of England. — Finally, the position 
of England with respect to commerce is worthy of note. It is not 
only possessed of a great number of excellent harbors, but it is 
situated in the most extensively navigated of the oceans, between 
the two continents having the highest civilization and the most 

1 Whitby, Yorkshire ; Exmouth, near Exeter, Devonshire. 

2 In England the cathedral towns only are called cities. 



THE GEOGRAPHY OF ENGLAND. 1 7 

constant intercourse. Next, a glance at the map 1 will show that 
geographically England is located at about the centre of the land 
masses of the globe. It is evident that an island so placed stands 
in the most favorable position for easy and rapid communication 
with every quarter of the world. On this account England has 
been able to attain and maintain the highest rank among maritime 
and commercial powers. 

It is true that since the opening of the Suez-Canal, in 1869, the 
trade with the Indies and China has changed. Tvfany cargoes of 
teas, silks, and spices, which formerly went to London, Liverpool, 
or Southampton, and were thence reshipped to different countries 
of Europe, now pass by other channels direct to the consumer. 
But aside from this, England still retains her supremacy as the 
great carrier and distributer of the productions of the earth — a 
fact which has had and must continue to have a decided influence 
on her history and on her relations with other nations, both in 
peace and war. 

1 See Maps Nos. 11 and 14, pages 186, 382. 



1 8 LEADING FACTS OF ENGLISH HISTORY. 



III. 



Force and Right rule the world : Force, till Right is ready." 

JOUBERT. 



ROMAN BRITAIN, 55 B.C. 43~4io A.D. 

A CIVILIZATION WHICH DID NOT CIVILIZE. 

39. Europe at the Time of Caesar's Invasion of Britain. — 

Before considering the Roman invasion of Britain let us take a 
glance at the condition of Europe. We have seen that the Celtic 
tribes of the island, like those of Gaul (France), were not mere 
savages. On the contrary, we know that they had taken more 
than one important step in the path of progress ; still, the advance 
should not be overrated. For, north of the shores of the Medi- 
terranean, there was no real civilization. Whatever gain the men 
of the Bronze Age had made, it was nothing compared to what 
they had yet to acquire. They had neither organized legislatures, 
written codes of law, effectively trained armies, nor extensive com- 
merce. They had no great cities, grand architecture, literature, 
painting, music, or sculpture. Finally, they had no illustrious and 
imperishable names. All these belonged to the Republic of 
Rome, or to the countries to the south and east, which the arms 
of Rome had conquered. 

40. Caesar's Campaigns. — Such was the state of Europe when 
Julius Caesar, who was governor of Gaul, but who aspired to be 
ruler of the world, set out on his first campaign against the tribes 
north of the Alps. (58 B.C.) 

In undertaking the war he had three objects in view : first, he 
wished to crush the power of those restless hordes that threatened 
the safety, not only of the Roman provinces, but of the ReDublic 



ROMAN BRITAIN. 1 9 

itself. Next, he sought military fame as a stepping-stone to 
supreme political power. Lastly, he wanted money to maintain 
his army and to bribe the party leaders of Rome. To this end 
every tribe which he conquered would be forced to pay him 
tribute in cash or slaves. 

41. Caesar reaches Boulogne; resolves to cross to Britain. 

— In three years Caesar had subjugated th^ enemy in a succes- 
sion of victories, and Europe lay virtually helpless at his feet. 
Late in the summer of 55 b.c. he reached that part of the coast 
of Gaul where Boulogne is now situated, opposite which one may 
see on a clear day the gleaming chalk cliffs of Dover, so vividly 
described in Shakespeare's "Lear." While encamped on the shore 
he "resolved," he says, "to pass over into Britain, having had 
trustworthy information that in all his wars with the Gauls the 
enemies of the Roman Commonwealth had constantly received 
help from thence." 1 

42. Britain not certainly known to be an Island. — It was 

not known then with certainty that Britain was an island. Many 
confused reports had been circulated respecting that strange land 
in the Atlantic on which only a few adventurous traders had ever 
set foot. It was spoken of in literature as " another world," or, as 
Plutarch called it, " a country beyond the bounds of the habitable 
globe." 2 To that other world the Roman general, impelled by 
ambition, by curiosity, by desire of vengeance, and by love of gain, 
determined to go. 

43. Caesar's First Invasion, 55 B.C. — Embarking with a force 
of between eight and ten thousand men 3 in eighty small vessels, 
Caesar crossed the Channel and landed not far from Dover, where 
he overcame the Britons, who made a desperate resistance. After 

i Caesar's Gallic War, Book IV. 

2 Plutarch's Lives (Julius Caesar). 

3 Caesar is supposed to have sailed about the 25th of August, 55 B.C. His 
force consisted of two legions, the 7th and 10th. A legion varied at different times 
from 3000 foot and 200 horse soldiers to 6000 foot and 400 horse. 



20 LEADING FACTS OF ENGLISH HISTORY. 

a stay of a few weeks, during which he did not leave the coast, he 
returned to Gaul. 

44. Second Invasion, 54 B.C. —The next year, a little ear- 
lier in the season, Caesar made a second invasion with a much 
larger force, and penetrated the country to a short distance north 
of the Thames. Before the September gales set in, he re-em- 
barked for the continent, never to return. The total result of his 
two expeditions was, a number of natives, carried as hostages to 
Rome, a long train of captives destined to be sold in the slave- 
markets, and some promises of tribute which were never fulfilled. 
Tacitus remarks, " He did not conquer Britain ; he only showed 
it to the Romans." 

Yet so powerful was Caesar's influence, that his invasion was 
spoken of as a splendid victory, and the Roman Senate ordered a 
thanksgiving of twenty days, in gratitude to the gods and in honor 
of the achievement. 

45. Third Invasion of Britain, 43 A. D. — For nearly a hun- 
dred years no further attempt was made, but in 43 a.d., after 
Rome had become a monarchy, the Emperor Claudius ordered a 
third invasion of Britain, in which he himself took part. 

This was successful, and after nine years of fighting, the Roman 
forces overcame Caractacus, the leader of the Britons. 

46. Caractacus carried Captive to Rome. — In company with 
many prisoners, Caractacus was taken in chains to Rome. Alone of 
all the captives, he refused to beg for life or liberty. " Can it be 
possible," said he, as he was led through the streets, "that men 
who live in such palaces as these envy us our wretched hovels I" 1 
" It was the dignity of the man, even in ruins," says Tacitus, 
"which saved him." The Emperor, struck with his bearing and 
his speech, ordered him to be set free. 

47. The First Roman Colony planted in Britain. —Meanwhile 
the armies of the Empire had firmly established themselves in the 



1 Tacitus, Annals. 



ROMAN BRITAIN. 21 

southeastern part of the island. There they formed the colony of 
Camulodunum, the modern Colchester. There, too, they built a 
temple and set up the statue of the Emperor Claudius, which the 
soldiers worshipped, both as a protecting god and as a representa- 
tive of the Roman state. 

48. Llyn-din. 1 — The army had also conquered other places, 
among which was a little native settlement on one of the broadest 
parts of the Thames. It consisted of a few miserable huts and a 
row of entrenched cattle-pens. This was called in the Celtic or 
British tongue Llyn-din or the Fort-on-the-lake, a word which, pro- 
nounced with difficulty by Roman lips, became that name which 
the world now knows wherever ships sail, trade reaches, or his- 
tory is read, — London. 

49. Expedition against the Druids. — But in order to complete 
the conquest of the country, the Roman generals saw that it would 
be necessary to crush the power of the Druids, since their passion- 
ate exhortations kept patriotism alive. The island of Mona, now 
Anglesea, off the coast of Wales, was the stronghold to which the 
Druids had retreated. As the Roman soldiers approached to 
attack them, they beheld the priests and women standing on the 
shore, with uplifted hands, uttering " dreadful prayers and impreca- 
tions." For a moment they hesitated, then urged by their gen- 
eral, they rushed upon them, cut them to pieces, levelled their 
consecrated groves to the ground, and cast the bodies of the 
Druids into their own sacred fires. From this blow, Druidism 
as an organized faith never recovered, though traces of its reli- 
gious rites still survive in the use of the mistletoe at Christmas 
and in May-day festivals. 

50. Revolt of Boadicea. — Still the power of the Latin legions 
was only partly established, for while Suetonius was absent with 
his troops at Mona, a formidable revolt had broken out in the 
east. The cause of the insurrection was Roman rapacity and 
cruelty. A native chief, Prasutagus, in order to secure half of his 

1 Llyn-din (lin-dm). 



22 LEADING FACTS OF ENGLISH HISTORY. 

property to his family at his death, left it to be equally divided 
between his daughters and the Emperor ; but the governor of the 
district, under the pretext that his widow Boadicea had con- 
cealed part of the property, seized the whole. Boadicea pro- 
tested. To punish her presumption she was stripped, bound, and 
scourged as a slave, and her daughters given up to still more 
brutal and infamous treatment. Maddened by these outrages, 
Boadicea roused the tribes by her appeals. They fell upon Lon- 
don and other cities, burned them to the ground, and slaughtered 
many thousand inhabitants. For a time it looked as though the 
whole country would be restored to the Britons ; but Suetonius 
heard of the disaster, hurried from the north, and fought a final 
battle, so tradition says, on ground within sight of where St. 
Paul's Cathedral now stands. The Roman general gained a com- 
plete victory, and Boadicea, the Cleopatra of the North, as she 
has been called, took her own life, rather than, like the Egyptian 
queen, fall into the hands of her conquerors. She died, let us 
trust, as the poet has represented, animated by the prophecy of 
the Druid priest that, — 

" Rome shall perish — write that word 
In the blood that she has spilt ; — 
Perish, hopeless and abhorred, 
Deep in ruin, as in guilt." 1 

51. Christianity introduced into Britain. — Perhaps it was 
not long after this that Christianity made its way to Britain ; if so, 
it crept in so silently that nothing certain can be learned of its 
advent. Our only record concerning it is found in monkish 
r.hronicles filled with bushels of legendary chaff, from which a few 
grains of historic truth may be here and there picked out. The 
first church, it is said, was built at Glastonbury. 2 It was a long, 
shed-like structure of wicker-work. " Here," says Fuller, " the 
converts watched, fasted, preached, and prayed, having high medi- 
tations under a low roof and large hearts within narrow walls.' v 



i Cowper. Boadicea. 2 Glastonbury, Somersetshire. 



ROMAN BRITAIN. 2$ 

Later there may have been more substantial edifices erected at 
Canterbury by the British Christians, but at what date, it is impos- 
sible to say. At first, no notice was taken of the new religion. It 
was the faith of the poor and the obscure, hence the Roman gen- 
erals regarded it with contempt ; but as it continued to spread, it 
caused alarm. The Roman Emperor was hot only the head of the 
state, but the head of religion as well. He represented the power 
of God on earth : to him every knee must bow ; but the Christian 
refused this homage. He put Christ first ; for that reason he was 
dangerous to the state : if he was not already a traitor and rebel, 
he was suspected to be on the verge of becoming both. 

52. Persecution of British Christians ; St. Alban. — Toward the 
last of the third century the Roman Emperor Diocletian resolved 
to root out this pernicious belief. He began a course of system- 
atic persecution- which extended to every part of the Empire, 
including Britain. The first martyr was Alban. He refused to 
sacrifice to the Roman deities, and was beheaded. " But he who 
gave the wicked stroke," says Bede, 1 with childlike simplicity, 
" was not permitted to rejoice over the deed, for his eyes dropped 
out upon the ground together with the blessed martyr's head." 
Five hundred years later the abbey of St. Albans 2 rose on the spot 
to commemorate him who had fallen there, and on his account 
that abbey stood superior to all others in power and privilege. 

53. Agricola explores the Coast and builds a Line of Forts. — 

In 78 a.d. Agricola, a wise and equitable ruler, became gov- 
ernor of the country. His fleets explored the coast, and first dis- 
covered Britain to be an island. He gradually extended the limits 
of the government, and, in order to prevent invasion from the 
north, he built a line of forts across Caledonia, or Scotland, from 
the river Firth to the Clyde. 

54. The Romans clear and cultivate the Country. — From this 
date the power of Rome was finally fixed. During the period of 

1 Bede, Ecclesiastical History of Britain, completed about the year 731. 

2 St. Albans, Hertfordshire, about twenty miles northwest of London. 



24 LEADING FACTS OF ENGLISH HISTORY. 

three hundred years which follows, the entire surface of the coun» 
try underwent a great change. Forests were cleared, marshes 
drained, waste lands reclaimed, rivers banked in and bridged, and 
the soil made so productive that Britain became known in Rome 
as the most important grain-producing and grain- exporting prov- 
ince in the Empire. 

55. Roman Cities; York. — Where the Britons had had a 
humble village enclosed by a ditch, with felled trees, to protect it, 
there rose such walled towns as Chester, Lincoln, London, and 
York, with some two score more, most of which have continued 
to be centres of population ever since. Of these, London early 
became the commercial metropolis, while York was acknowledged 
to be both the military and civil capital of the country. There 
the Sixth Legion was stationed. It was the most noted body of 
troops in the Roman army, and was called, the "Victorious 
Legion." It remained there for upward of three hundred years. 
There, too, the governor resided and administered justice. For 
these reasons York got the name of "another Rome." It was 
defended by walls flanked with towers, some of which are still 
standing. It had numerous temples and public buildings, such as 
befitted the first city of Britain. There, also, an event occurred 
in the fourth century which made an indelible mark on the history 
of mankind. For at York, Constantine, the subsequent founder of 
Constantinople, was proclaimed emperor, and through his influ- 
ence Christianity became the established religion of the Empire. 1 

56. Roman System of Government ; Roads. — During the 
Roman possession of Britain the country was differently gov- 
erned at different periods, but eventually it was divided into five 
provinces.- These were intersected by a magnificent system of 
paved roads running in direct lines from city to city, and having 
London as a common centre. Across the Strait of Dover, they 
connected with a similar system of roads throughout France, 

1 Constantine was the first Christian emperor of Rome. The preceding emperors 
had generally persecuted the Christians. 



No. 3. 

ROMAN BRITAIN. 




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MAXIM 



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(Manchester) 



^.Deva 

(Chester) 



Tina Fl. 
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fork) 






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(Lindum" 
I (Lincoln) = 



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ulodunum 

Colchester 

L$NDIN!U!$ 

Lond 



:^5^ 



^Glafiesler) Jm^V V 

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Bath) 

Calleva^Atrebafcum 

(SUcheBter) D urover£ui 

PRIMA o ( Cante .^ ur y) ,^ 

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, {Winchester) Zemanis OfSu^cf? ^ *' 

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A tf V S 




To face page 24. 



ROMAN BRITAIN. 25 

Spain, and Italy, which terminated at Rome. Over these roads 
bodies of troops could be rapidly marched to any needed point, 
and by them officers of state mounted on relays of fleet horses 
could pass from one end of the Empire to the other in a few days' 
time. So skilfully and substantially were these highways con- 
structed, that modern engineers have been glad to adopt them as 
a basis for their work, and the four leading Roman roads 1 continue 
to be the foundation, not only of numerous turnpikes in different 
parts of England, but also of several of the great railway lines, espe- 
cially those from London to Chester and from London to York. 

57. Roman Forts and Walls. — Next in importance to the 
roads were the fortifications. In addition to those which Agricola 
had built, later rulers constructed a wall of solid masonry en- 
tirely across the country from the shore of the North to that of 
the Irish Sea. This wall, which was about seventy-five miles south 
of Agricola's work, was strengthened by a deep ditch and a ram- 
part of earth. It was further defended by castles built at regular 
intervals of one mile. These were of stone, and from sixty to 
seventy feet square. Between them were stone turrets or watch- 
towers which were used as sentry-boxes ; while at every fourth mile 
there was a fort, covering from three to six acres, occupied by a 
large body of troops. 

58. Defences against Saxon Pirates. — But the northern tribes 
were not the only ones to be guarded against; bands of pirates 
prowled along the east and south coasts, burning, plundering, ana 
kidnapping. These marauders came from Denmark and the adja- 
cent countries. The Britons and Romans called them Saxons, 
a most significant name if, as is generally supposed, it refers to 
the short, stout knives which made them a terror to every land on 
which they set foot. To repel them a strong chain of forts was 
erected on the coast, extending from the mouth of the river Black- 
water, in Essex, to Portsmouth on the south. 

1 The four chief roads were : i. Watling Street; 2. I cknield Street ; 3. Ermine 
Street ; and 4. The Fosse Way. See Map No. 3, page 24. 



26 LEADING FACTS OF ENGLISH HISTORY. 

Of these great works, cities, walls, and fortifications, though by 
far the greater part have perished, yet enough still remain to jus- 
tify the statement that " outside of England no such monuments 
exist of the power and military genius of Rome." 

59. Roman Civilization False. — Yet the whole fabric was as 
hollow and false as it was splendid. Civilization, like truth, can- 
not be forced on minds unwilling or unable to receive it. Least of 
all can it be forced by the sword's point and the taskmaster's lash. 
In order to render his victories on the continent secure, Csesar 
had not hesitated to butcher thousands of prisoners of war or to 
cut off the right hands of the entire population of a large settle- 
ment to prevent them from rising in revolt. The policy pursued 
in Britain, though very different, was equally heartless and equally 
fatal. There was indeed an occasional ruler who endeavored to 
act justly, but such cases were rare. Galgacus, a leader of the 
North Britons, said with truth of the Romans, "They give the 
lying name of Empire to robbery and slaughter ; they make a des- 
ert and call it peace." 

60. The Mass of the Native Population Slaves. — It is true 

that the chief cities of Britain were exempt from oppression. 
They elected their own magistrates and made their own laws, but 
they enjoyed this liberty because their inhabitants were either 
Roman soldiers or their allies. Outside these cities the great mass 
of the native population were bound to the soil, while a large pro- 
portion of them were absolute slaves. Their work was in the brick 
fields, the quarries, the mines, or in the ploughed land, or the 
forest. Their homes were wretched cabins plastered with mud, 
thatched with straw, and built on the estates of masters who paid 
no wages. 

61. Roman Villas. — The masters lived in stately villas adorned 
with pavements of different colored marbles and beautifully painted 
walls. These country-houses, often as large as palaces, were 
warmed in winter, like our modern dwellings, with currents of 
heated air, while in summer they opened on terraces ornamented 



ROMAN BRITAIN. 2J 

with vases and statuary, and on spacious gardens of fruits and 
flowers. 1 

62. Roman Taxation and Cruelty. — Such was the condition 
of the laboring classes. Those who were called free were hardly 
better off, for nearly all that they could earn was swallowed up in 
taxes. The standing army of Britain, which the people of the 
country had to support, rarely numbered less than forty thousand. 
The population was not only scanty, but it was poor. Every 
farmer had to pay a third of all that his farm could produce, in 
taxes. Every article that he sold had also to pay duty, and finally 
there was a poll-tax on the man himself. On the continent there 
was a saying that it was better for a property-owner to fall into the 
hands of savages than into those of the Roman assessors. When 
they went round, they counted not only every ox and sheep, but 
every plant, and registered them as well as the owners. " One 
heard nothing," says a writer of that time, speaking of the days 
when revenue was collected, " but the sound of flogging and all 
kinds of torture. The son was compelled to inform against his 
father, and the wife against her husband. If other means failed, 
men were forced to give evidence against themselves and were 
assessed according to the confession they made to escape tor- 
ment." 2 So great was the misery of the land that it was not an 
uncommon thing for parents to destroy their children, rather than 
let them grow up to a life of suffering. This vast system of organ- 
ized oppression, like all tyranny, " was not so much an institution 
as a destitution," undermining and impoverishing the country. It 
lasted until time brought its revenge, and Rome, which had 
crushed so many nations of barbarians, was in her turn threatened 
with a like fate, by bands of barbarians stronger than herself. 

63. The Romans compelled to abandon Britain. — When 

Caesar returned from his victorious campaigns in Gaul in the first 

1 About one hundred of these villas or country-houses, chiefly in the South and 
Southwest of England, have been exhumed. Some of them cover several acres. 

2 Lactantius. See Elton's Origins of English History. 



28 LEADING FACTS OF ENGLISH HISTORY. 

century B.C., Cicero exultingly exclaimed, " Now, let the Alps sink ! 
the gods raised them to shelter Italy from the barbarians ; they are 
no longer needed." For nearly five centuries that continued true ; 
then the tribes of Northern Europe could no longer be held back. 
When the Roman emperors saw that the crisis had arrived, they 
recalled the legions from Britain. The rest of the colonists soon 
followed. In the year 409 we find this brief but expressive entry 
in the Anglo-Saxon Chronicle, 1 "After this the Romans never 
ruled in Britain." A few years later this entry occurs : "418. This 
year the Romans collected all the treasures in Britain ; some they 
hid in the earth, so that no one since has been able to find them, 
and some they carried with them into Gaul." 

64. Remains of Roman Civilization. — In the course of the 
next three generations whatever Roman civilization had accom- 
plished in the island, politically and socially, had disappeared. A 
few words, indeed, such as "port " and " street," have come down 
to us. Save these, nothing is left but the material shell, — the 
roads, forts, arches, gateways, altars, and tombs, which are still to 
be seen scattered throughout the land. 

The soil, also, is full of relics of the same kind. Twenty feet 
below the surface of the London of to-day lie the remains of the 
London of the Romans. In digging in the "city," 2 the laborer's 
shovel every now and then brings to light bits of rusted armor, 
broken swords, fragments of statuary, and gold and silver orna- 
ments. So, likewise, several towns, long buried in the earth, and 
the foundations of upwards of a hundred country-houses, have been 
discovered ; but these seem to be all. If Rome left any traces 

1 Anglo-Saxon Chronicle : the earliest English history. It waS probably begun 
in the ninth century, in the reign of Alfred. It extends, in different copies, from 
Caesar's invasion until the beginning of the reign of Henry II., 1154. It is sup- 
posed that the work was written in Canterbury, Peterborough, and other monas- 
teries. The first part of it is evidently based on tradition ; but the whole is of great 
value, especially from the time of Alfred. 

2 The " city " —that part of London formerly enclosed by Roman walls, together 
with a small outlying district. Its limit on the west is the site of Temple Bar ; on 
the east, the Tower of London. 



ROMAN BRITAIN. 29 

of her literature, law, and methods of government, they are so 
doubtful that they serve only as subjects for antiquarians to wran- 
gle over. 1 Were it not for the stubborn endurance of ivy-covered 
ruins like those of Pevensey, Chester, and York, and of that 
gigantic wall which still stretches across the bleak moors of North- 
umberland, we might well doubt whether there ever was a time 
when the Caesars held Britain in their relentless grasp. 

y 65. Good Results of the Roman Conquest of Britain. — Still, it 
would be an error to suppose that the conquest and occupation of 
the island had no results for good. Had Rome fallen a century 
earlier, the world would have been the loser by it, for during that 
century the inhabitants of Gaul and Spain were brought into closer 
contact than ever with the only power then existing which could 
teach them the lesson they were prepared to learn. Unlike the 
Britons, they adopted the Latin language for their own ; they made 
themselves acquainted with its literature and aided in its preserva- 
tion; they accepted the Roman law and the Roman idea of 
government ; lastly, they acknowledged the influence of the Chris- 
tian church, and, with Constantine's help, they organized it on a 
solid foundation. Had Rome fallen a prey to the invaders in 318 
instead of 410, 2 it is doubtful if any of these results would have * 
taken place, and it is almost certain that the last and most impor- 
tant of all could not. 

Britain furnished Rome with abundant food supplies, and 
sent thousands of troops to serve in the Roman armies on the 
continent. Britain also supported the numerous colonies which 
were constantly emigrating to her from Italy, and thus kept open 
the lines of communication with the mother- country. By so doing 
she helped to maintain the circulation of the life-currents in the 
remotest branches of the Roman Empire. Because of this, that 

1 Scarth, Pearson, Guest, Elton, and Coote believe that Roman civilization had 
a permanent influence ; while Lappenburg, Stubbs, Freeman, Green, Wright, and 
Gardiner deny it. 

2 Rome was plundered by the Goths, under Alaric, in 410. The empire finally 
fell in 476. 



30 LEADING FACTS OF ENGLISH HISTORY. 

empire was able to resist the barbarians until the seeds of the old 
civilization had time to root themselves and to spring up with 
promise of a new and nobler growth. In itself, then, though the 
island gained practically nothing from the Roman occupation, yet 
through it mankind was destined to gain much. During these 
centuries the story of Britain is that which history so often repeats 
— a part of Europe was sacrificed that the whole might not be 
lost. 



THE COMING OF THE SAXONS. ^1 



IV. 

The happy ages of history are never the productive ones." — Hegel. 



THE COMING OF THE SAXONS, OR ENGLISH, 
449 A.D. 

THE BATTLES OF THE TRIBES. — BRITAIN BECOMES ENGLAND. 

66. Condition of the Britons after the Romans left the Island. 

— Three hundred and fifty years of Roman law and order had 
so completely tamed the fiery aborigines of the island that when 
the legions abandoned it, the complaint of Gildas, 1 " the British 
Jeremiah," as Gibbon calls him, may have been literally true, when 
he declared that the Britons were no longer brave in war or faith- 
ful in peace. 

Certainly their condition was both precarious and perilous. 
On the north they were assailed by the Picts, on the northwest by 
the Scots, 2 on the south and east by the Saxons. What was 
perhaps worst and most dangerous of all, they quarrelled among 
themselves over points of theological doctrine. They had, in- 
deed, the love of liberty, but not the spirit of unity; and the 
consequence was, that their enemies, bursting in on all sides, cut 
them down, Bede says, as " reapers cut down ripe grain." 

67. Letter to Aetius. — At length the chief men of the country 
joined in a piteous and pusillanimous letter begging help from 

1 Gildas: a British monk, 5i6(?)-57o(?). He wrote an account of the Saxon 
conquest of Britain. 

2 Picts: ancient tribes of the North and Northeast of Scotland; Scots : originally 
inhabitants of Ireland, some of whom settled" in the West of Scotland, and gave 
their name to the whole country. 



32 LEADING FACTS OF ENGLISH HISTORY. 

Rome. It was addressed as follows : " To Aetius, Consul * for 
the third time, the groans of the Britons " j and at the close their 
calamities were summed up in these words, "The barbarians 
drive us to the sea, the sea drives us back to the barbarians; 
between them we are either slain or drowned." Aetius, however, 
was fighting the enemies of Rome at home, and left the Britons to 
shift for themselves. 

68. Vortigern's Advice. — Finally, in their desperation, they 
adopted the advice of Vortigern, a chief of Kent, who urged them 
to fight fire with fire, by inviting a band of Saxons to form an 
alliance with them against the Picts and Scots. The proposal 
was very readily accepted by a tribe of Jutes. They, with the 
Angles and Saxons, occupied the peninsula of Jutland, or Den- 
mark, and the seacoast to the south of it. All of them were 
known to the Britons under the general name of Saxons. 

69. Coming of the Jutes. — Gildas records their arrival in 
characteristic terms, saying that " in 449 a multitude of whelps 
came from the lair of the barbaric lioness, in three keels, as 
they call them." 2 We get a good picture of what they were 
like from the exultant song of their countryman, Beowulf, 3 who 
describes with pride "the dragon-prowed ships," filled with 
sea-robbers, armed with "rough-handled spears and swords of 
bronze," which under other leaders sailed for the shining coasts 
of Britain. 

These three keels, or war-ships, under the command of the 
chieftains Hengist and Horsa, were destined to grow into a king- - 
dom. Settling at first, according to agreement, in the island of 

1 Consul : originally one of two chief magistrates governing Rome ; later the 
consuls ruled over the chief provinces, and sometimes commanded armies. Still 
later they became wholly subject to the emperors, and had little, if any, real power 
of their own. 

2 See Map No. 4, page 34. 

3 Beowulf: the hero of the earliest Anglo-Saxon or English epic poem. It is 
uncertain whether it was written on the continent or in England. Some authorities 
refer it to the ninth century, others to the fifth. 



THE* COMING OF THE SAXONS. 33 

Thanet. near the mouth of the Thames, the Jutes easily fulfilled 
their contract to free the country from the ravages of the Picts, 
and quite as easily found a pretext afterward for seizing the 
fairest portion of Kent for themselves and their kinsmen and 
adherents, who came, vulture-like, in ever-increasing multitudes. 

70. Invasion by the Saxons. - — The success of the Jutes 
incited their neighbors, the Saxons, who came under the leader- 
ship of Ella, and Cissa, his son, for their share of the spoils. They 
conquered a part of the country bordering on the Channel, and, 
settling there, gave it the name of Sussex, or the country of the 
South Saxons. We learn from two sources how the land was 
wrested from the native inhabitants. On the one side is the 
account given by the British monk Gildas ; on the other, that of 
the Saxon or English Chronicle. Both agree that it was gained 
by the edge of the sword, with burning, pillaging, massacre, and 
captivity. "Some," says Gildas, "were caught in the hills and 
slaughtered ; others, worn out with hunger, gave themselves up to 
lifelong slavery. Some fled across the sea ; others trusted them- 
selves to the clefts of the mountains, to the forests, and to the 
rocks along the coast." By the Saxons, we are told that the 
Britons fled before them " as from fire." 

71. Siege of Anderida. — Again, the Chronicle tersely says: 
" In 490 ^Ellajand Cissa besieged Anderida (the modern Pevensey) 1 
and put tocleath all who dwelt there, so that not a single Briton 
remained alive in it." When, however, they took a fortified town 
like Anderida, they did not occupy, but abandoned it. So the 
place stands to-day, with the exception of a Norman castle, 
built there in the eleventh century, just as the invaders left it. 
Accustomed as they were to a wild life, they hated the restraint 
and scorned the protection of stone walls. It was not until after 
many generations had passed that they became reconciled to live 
within them. In the same spirit, they refused to appropriate 

1 Pevensey : see coast of Sussex, Map No. 5, page 38. 



34 LEADING FACTS OF ENGLISH HISTORY. 

anything which Rome had left. They burned the villas, killed or 
enslaved the serfs who tilled the soil, and seized the land to form 
rough settlements of their own. 

72. Settlement of Wessex, Essex, and Middlesex. — In this 
way, after Sussex was established, bands came over under Cerdic 
in 495. They conquered a territory to which they gave the name 
of Wessex, or the country of the West Saxons. About the same 
time, or possibly a little later, we have the settlement of other in- 
vaders in the country north of the Thames, which became known 
as Essex and Middlesex, or the land of the East and the Middle 
Saxons. 

73. Invasion by the Angles. — Finally, there came from a 
little corner south of the peninsula of Denmark, between the 
Baltic and an arm of the sea called the Sley (a region which still 
bears the name of Angeln), a tribe of Angles, who took posses- 
sion of all of Eastern Britain not already appropriated. Event- 
ually they came to have control over the greater part of the land, 
and from them all the other tribes took the name of Angles, or 
English. 

74. Bravery of the Britons. — Long before this last settle- 
ment was complete, the Britons had plucked up courage, and 
had, to some extent, joined forces to save themselves from utter 
extermination. They were naturally a brave people, and the fact 
that the Saxon invasions cover a period of more than a hundred 
years shows pretty conclusively that, though the Britons were 
weakened by Roman tyranny, yet in the end they fell back on 
what pugilists call their " second strength." They fought valiantly 
and gave up the country inch by inch only. 

75. King Arthur checks the Invaders. — In 520, if we may 
trust tradition, the Saxons received their first decided check at 
Badbury, in Dorsetshire, from that famous Arthur, the legend of 
whose deeds has come down to us, retold in Tennyson's " Idylls 
of the King." He met them in their march of insolent triumph, 



No. 4. 

THE CONQUEST OF BRITAIN BY TRIBES FROM THE LOW OR 
NORTHERN AND FLATTER PARTS OF GERMANY. 



THE CONQUEST OE BEITAIN 

BY THB 

LOW GERMAN TRIBES 

OF 

Saxons, Jutes & Angles (or English). 




To face page 34. 



THE COMING OF THE SAXONS. 35 

and with his irresistible sword " Excalibur " and his stanch Welsh 
spearsmen, proved to them, at least, that he was not a myth, but a 
man, 1 able " to break the heathen and uphold the Christ." 

76. The Britons driven into the West. — But though tempo- 
rarily brought to a stand, the heathen were neither to be expelled 
nor driven back. They had come to stay. At last the Britons 
were forced to take refuge among the hills of Wales, where they 
continued to abide unconquered and unconquerable by force 
alone. In the light of these events, it is interesting to see that 
that ancient stock never lost its love of liberty, and that more than 
eleven centuries later, Thomas Jefferson, and several of the other 
fifty-five signers of 'the Declaration of American Independence 
were either of Welsh birth or of direct Welsh descent. 

77. Gregory and the English Slaves. — The next period, of 
nearly eighty years, until the coming of Augustine, is a dreary 
record of constant bloodshed. Out of their very barbarism, how- 
ever, a regenerating influence was to arise. In their greed for gain, 
some of the English tribes did not hesitate to sell their own chil- 
dren into bondage, A number of these slaves exposed in the Roman 
forum, attracted the attention, as he was passing, of a monk named 
Gregory. Struck with the beauty of their clear, ruddy com- 
plexions and fair hair, he inquired from what country they came. 
" They are Angles," was the dealer's answer. " No, not Angles, 
but angels," answered the monk, and he resolved that, should he 
ever have the power, he would send missionaries to convert a race 
of so much promise. 2 

78. Coming of Augustine, 597. — In 590 he became the head 
of the Roman church. Seven, years later he fulfilled his resolution, 
and sent Augustine with a band of forty monks to Britain. They 
landed oh the very spot where Hengist and Horsa had disembarked 

1 The tendency at one time was to regard Arthur as a mythical or imaginary 
hero, but later investigation seems to prove that he was a vigorous and able British 
leader. 

2 Bede. 



36 LEADING FACTS OF ENGLISH HISTORY. 

nearly one hundred and fifty years before. Like Caesar and his 
legions, they brought with them the power of Rome ; but this time 
it came not as a force from without to crush men in the iron mould 
of submission and uniformity, but as a persuasive voice to arouse 
and cheer them with new hope. Providence had already pre- 
pared the way. Ethelbert, king of Kent, had married Bertha, a 
French princess, who in her own country had become a convert 
to Christianity. The Saxons, or English, at that time were wholly 
pagan, and had, in all probability, destroyed every vestige of the 
faith for which the British martyrs gave their lives. 

79. Augustine converts the King of Kent and his People. 

— Through the queen's influence, Ethelbert was induced to 
receive Augustine. He was afraid, however, of some magical 
practice, so he insisted that their meeting should take place in 
the open air and on the island of Thanet. The historian Bede 
represents the monks as advancing to salute the king, holding a 
tall silver cross in their hands and a picture of Christ painted on 
an upright board. Augustine delivered his message, was well 
received, and invited to Canterbury, the capital of Kent. There 
the king became a convert to his preaching, and before the year 
had passed ten thousand of his subjects had received baptism ; 
for to gain the king was to gain his tribe as well. 

80. Augustine builds the First Monastery. — At Canterbury 
Augustine became the first archbishop over the first cathedral. 
There, too, he erected the first monastery in which to train mis- 
sionaries to carry on the work which he had begun, a building 
still in use for that purpose, and that continues to bear the name 
of the man who founded it. The example of the ruler of Kent 
was not without its effect on others. 

81. Conversion of the North. —The North of England, how- 
ever, owed its conversion chiefly to the Irish monks of an earlier 
age. They had planted monasteries in Ireland and Scotland from 
which colonies went forth, one of which settled at Lindisfarne, 
in Durham. Cuthbert, a Saxon monk of that monastery in the 



THE COMING OF THE SAXONS. 37 

seventh century, travelled as a missionary throughout Northumbria, 
and was afterward recognized as the saint of the North. Through 
his influence that kingdom was induced to accept Christianity. 
Others, too, went to other districts. In one case, an aged chief 
arose in an assembly of warriors and said, " O king, as a bird flies 
through this hall in the winter night, coming out of the dark- 
ness and vanishing into it again, even such is our life. If these 
strangers can tell us aught of what is beyond, let us give heed to 
them." But Bede informs us that, notwithstanding their success, 
some of the new converts were too cautious to commit themselves 
entirely to the strange religion. One king, who had set up a large 
altar devoted to the worship of Christ, very prudently set up a 
smaller one at the other end of the hall to the old heathen deities, 
in order that he might make sure of the favor of both. 

82. Christianity organized; Labors of the Monks. — Grad- 
ually, however, the pagan faith was dropped. Christianity organ- 
ized itself under conventual rule. Monasteries either already 
existed or were now established at Lindisfarne, 1 Wearmouth, Whit- 
by and Jarrow in the north, and at Peterborough and St. Albans 
in the east. These monasteries were educational as well as indus- 
trial centres. Part of each day was spent by the monks in manual 
toil, for they held that " to labor is to pray." They cleared the 
land, drained the bogs, ploughed, sowed, and reaped. Another part 
of the day they spent in religious exercises, and a third in writing, 
translating, and teaching. A school was attached to each monas- 
tery, and each had besides its library of manuscript books as well 
as its room for the entertainment of travellers and pilgrims. In 
these libraries important charters and laws relating to the kingdom 
were also preserved. 

83. Literary Work of the Monks. — It was at Jarrow that Bede 
wrote in rude Latin the church-history of England. It was at 

1 Lindisfarne, or Holy Island, off the coast of Northumberland — see Scott's 
Marmion, Canto II., 9-10. Wearmouth and Jarrow are in Durham, Whitby in 
Yorkshire, and Peterborough in Northamptonshire. 



38 LEADING FACTS OF ENGLISH HISTORY. 

Whitby that the poet Caedmon 1 composed his poem on the Crea- 
tion, in which, a thousand years before Milton, he dealt with 
Milton's theme in Milton's spirit. It was at Peterborough and 
Canterbury that the Anglo-Saxon Chronicle was probably begun, 
a work which stands by itself, not only as the first English history, 
but 'the first English book, and the one from which we derive 
much of our knowledge of the time from the Roman conquest 
down to a period after the coming of the Normans. It was in 
the abbeys of Malmesbury 2 and St. Albans that, at a later period, 
that history was taken up and continued by William of Malmesbury 
and Matthew Paris. It was also from these monasteries that an 
influence went out which eventually revived learning throughout 
Europe. 

84. Influence of Christianity on Society. — But the work of 
Christianity for good did not stop with these things. The church 
had an important social influence. It took the side of the weak, 
the suffering, and the oppressed. It shielded the slave from ill 
usage. It secured for him Sunday as a day of rest, and it con- 
stantly labored for his emancipation. 

85. Political Influence of Christianity. — More than this, 
Christianity had a powerful political influence. In 664 a synod, 
or council, was held at Whitby to decide when Easter should be 
observed. To that meeting, which was presided over by the 
Archbishop of Canterbury, delegates were sent from all parts of 
the country. After a protracted debate the synod decided in 
favor of the Roman custom, and thus all the churches were 
brought into agreement. In this way, at a period when the coun- 
try was divided into hostile kingdoms of Angles, Saxons, and Jutes, 
each struggling fiercely for the mastery, there was a spirit of true 
religious unity growing up. The bishops, monks, and priests, 
gathered at Whitby, were from tribes at open war with each other. 
But in that, and other conferences which followed, they felt 
that they had a common interest, that they were fellow- country- 

1 Caedmon (Kadmon). 2 Malmesbury, Wiltshire. 



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THE COMING OF THE SAXONS. 39 

men, and that they were all members of the same church and 
laboring for the same end. 

86. Egbert. — But during the next hundred and fifty years the 
chief indication outside the church of any progress toward con- 
solidation was in the growing power of the kingdom of Wessex. 
In 787 Egbert, a direct descendant of Cerdic, the first chief and 
king of the country, laid claim to the throne. Another claimant 
arose, who gained the day, and Egbert, finding that his life was in 
danger, fled the country. 

87. Egbert at the Court of Charlemagne. — He escaped to 
France, and there took refuge at the court of King Charlemagne, 
where he remained thirteen years. Charlemagne had conceived the 
gigantic project of resuscitating the Roman Empire. To accom- 
plish that, he had engaged in a series of wars, and in the year 800 
had so far conquered his enemies that he was crowned Emperor 
of the West by the Pope at Rome. 

88. Egbert becomes "King of the English." — That very year 
the king of Wessex died, and Egbert was summoned to take his 
place. He went back impressed with the success of the French 
king and ambitious to imitate him. Twenty-three years after that, 
we hear of him fighting the tribes in Mercia, or Central Britain. 
His army is described as "lean, p"ale, and long-breathed " ; but 
with those cadaverous troops he conquered T and reduced the Mer- 
cians to subjection. Other victories followed, and in 828 he had 
brought all the sovereignties of England into vassalage. He now 
ventured to assume the title, which he had fairly won, of " King 
of the English." 1 

89. Britain becomes England. — The Celts had called the land 
Albion ; the Romans, Britain : 2 the country now called itself Angle- 
Land, or England. Three causes had brought about this consoli- 

1 In a single charter, dated 828, he called himself " Egbert, by the grace of God, 
King of the English." 

2 Britain : nothing definite is known respecting the origin or meaning of this 
word. 



40 LEADING FACTS OF ENGLISH HISTORY. 

dation, to which each people had contributed part. The Jutes oi 
Kent encouraged the foundation of the national church ; the Angles 
gave the national name, the West Saxons furnished the national 
king. From him as a royal source, every subsequent English sove- 
reign, with the exception of Harold II., and a few Danish rulers, 
has directly or indirectly descended down to the present time. 

90. Alfred the Great. — Of these the most conspicuous during 
the period of which we are writing was Alfred, grandson of Egbert. 
He was rightly called Alfred the Great, since he was the embodi- 
ment of whatever was best and bravest in the English character. 
The key-note of his life may be found in the words which he 
spoke at the close of it, " So long as I have lived, I have striven 
to live worthily." 

91. Danish Invasion. —When he came to the throne in 871, 
through the death of his brother Ethelred, the Danes were sweep- 
ing down on the country. A few months before that event Alfred 
had aided his brother in a desperate struggle with them. In the 
beginning, the object of the Danes was to plunder, later, to possess, 
and finally, to rule over the country. In the year Alfred came to 
the throne, they had already overrun a large portion and invaded 
Wessex. Wherever their raven-flag appeared, there destruction 
and slaughter followed. 

92. The Danes destroy the Monasteries. — The monasteries 
were the especial objects of their attacks. Since their establish- 
ment many of them had accumulated wealth and had sunk into 
habits of idleness and luxury. The Danes, without intending it, 
came to scourge these vices. From the thorough way in which 
they robbed, burned, and murdered, there can be no doubt that 
they enjoyed what some might think was their providential mis- 
sion. In their helplessness and terror, the panic-stricken monks 
added to their usual prayers, this fervent petition : " From the fury 
of the Northmen, good Lord deliver us ! " The power raised up 
to answer that supplication was Alfred. 



THE COMING OF THE SAXONS. 41 

93. Alfred's Victories over the Danes ; The White Horse. — 

After repeated defeats, he, with his brother, finally drove back 
these savage hordes, who thought it a shame to earn by sweat 
what they could win by blood ; whose boast was that they would 
fight in paradise even as they had fought on earth, and would 
celebrate their victories with foaming draughts of ale drunk from 
the skulls of their enemies. In these attacks, Alfred led one-half 
the army, Ethelred the other. They met the Danes at Ashdown, 
in Berkshire. While Ethelred stopped to pray for success, Alfred, 
under the banner of the " White Horse," — the common standard 
of the Anglo-Saxons at that time, — began the attack and won the 
day. Tradition declares that after the victory he ordered his army 
to commemorate their triumph by carving that colossal figure of 
a horse on the side of a neighboring chalk- hill, which still remains 
so conspicuous an object in the landscape. It was shortly after 
this that Alfred became king ; but the war, far from being ended, 
had in fact but just begun. 

94. The Danes compel Alfred to retreat. — The Danes, re- 
inforced by other invaders, overcame Alfred s "orces and com- 
pelled him to retreat. He fled to the wilds of Somersetshire, and 
was glad to take -up his abode for a time, so the story runs, 
in a peasant's hut. Subsequently he succeeded in rallying part of 
his people, and built a stronghold on a piece of rising ground, in 
the midst of an almost impassable morass. There he remained 
during the winter. 

95. Great Victory by Alfred; Treaty of Wedmore, 878.— 

In the spring he marched forth and again attacked the Danes. 
They were entrenched in a camp at Edington, Wiltshire. Alfred 
surrounded them, and starved them into submission so complete 
that Guthrum, the Danish leader, swore a peace, called the Peace 
or Treaty of Wedmore, and sealed the oath with his baptism — an 
admission that Alfred had not only beaten, but converted him 
as well. 



42 LEADING FACTS OF ENGLISH HISTORY. 

96. Terms of the Treaty. — By the Treaty of Wedmore 1 the 

Danes bound themselves to remain north and east of a line drawn 
from London to Chester, following the old Roman road called 
Watling-street. All south of this line, including a district around 
London, was recognized as the dominions of Alfred, whose chief 
city, or capital, was Winchester. By this treaty the Danes got 
much the larger part of England, on the one hand, though they 
acknowledged Alfred as their over-lord, on the other. He thus 
became nominally what his predecessor, Egbert, had claimed to 
be, — the -king of the whole country ;• 

97. Alfred's Laws ; his Translations. — He proved himself to 
be more than mere ruler; for he was law-giver and teacher as 
well. Through his efforts a written code was compiled, prefaced 
by the Ten Commandments and ending with the Golden Rule ; 
and, as Alfred added, referring to the introduction, "He who 
keeps this shall not need any other law-book." Next, that learn- 
ing might not utterly perish in the ashes of the abbeys and 
monasteries which the Danes had destroyed, the king, though 
feeble and suffering, cet himself to translate from the Latin the 
Universal History of Orosius, and also Bede's History of England. 
He afterward rendered into English the Reflections of the Roman 
senator, Boethius, on the Supreme Good, an inquiry written by the 
latter while in prison, under sentence of death. 

98. Alfred's Navy. — Alfred, however, still had to combat the 
Danes, who continued to make descents upon the coast, and even 
sailed up the Thames to take London. He constructed a superior 
class of fast-sailing war-vessels from designs made by himself, and 
with this fleet, which may be regarded as the beginning of the Eng- 
lish navy, he fought the enemy on their own element. He thus 
effectually checked a series of invasions which, had they continued, 
might have eventually reduced the country to primitive barbarism. 



1 Wedmore (the Wet-Moor), near Wells, Somersetshire : here, according to 
tradition, Alfred had a palace in which the treaty was consummated. 

2 See Map No. 6, page 42. 



No. 6. 

ENGLAND TOWARD THE CLOSE OF THE NINTH CENTURY. 



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To face page 42. 

The shaded district on the northeast shows the part obtained by the Danes by the 
Treaty of Wedmore, 878 a.d. 



THE COMING OF THE SAXONS. 43 

99. Estimate of Alfred's Reign. — Considered as a whole, 
Alfred's reign is the most noteworthy of any in the annals of the 
early English sovereigns. It was marked throughout by intelli- 
gence and progress. His life speaks for itself. The best com- 
mentary on it is the fact that, in 1849, tne people of Wantage, 1 his 
native place, celebrated the thousandth anniversary of his birth — 
another proof that "what is excellent, as God lives, is permanent." 2 

100. Dunstan's Reforms. — Two generations after Alfred's 
death, Dunstan, Archbishop of Canterbury, the ablest man in an 
age when all statesmen were ecclesiastics, came forward to take up 
and push onward the work begun by the great king. He labored 
for higher education, for strict monastic rule, and for the celibacy 
of the monks. 

101. Regular and Secular Clergy. — At that time the clergy 
of England were divided into two classes, — the " regulars," or 
monks, and the " seculars," or parish priests and other clergy not 
bound by monastic vows. The former lived in the monasteries 
apart from the world ; the latter lived in it. By their monastic 
vows, 3 the " regulars " were bound to remain unmarried, while the 
" seculars " were not. Notwithstanding Alfred's efforts at reform, 
many monasteries had relaxed their rules, and were again filled 
with drones. In violation of their vows, large numbers of the 
monks were married. Furthermore, many new churches had been 
endowed and put into the hands of the " seculars." 

102. Danger to the State from Each Class of Clergy. — The 

danger was that this laxity would go on increasing, so that in time 
the married clergy would monopolize the clerical influence and 
clerical wealth of the kingdom for themselves and their families. 
They would thus become an hereditary body, a close corporation, 
transmitting their power and possessions from father to son through 
generations. On the other hand, the tendency of the unmarried 

1 Wantage, Berkshire. 2 R. W. Emerson. 

8 The monastic vows required poverty, chastity, and obedience to the rules of 
their order. 



44 LEADING FACTS OF ENGLISH HISTORY. 

clergy would be to become wholly subservient to the church and 
the Pope, though they must necessarily recruit their ranks from 
the people. In this last respect they would be more democratic 
than the opposite class. They would also be more directly con- 
nected with national interests and the national life, while at the 
same time they would be able to devote themselves more exclu- 
sively to study and to intellectual culture than the " seculars." 

103. Dunstan as a Statesman and Artisan. — In addition to 
these reforms, Dunstan proved himself to be as clever a states- 
man as theologian. He undertook, with temporary success, to 
reconcile the conflicting interests of the Danes and the English. 
He was also noted as a mechanic and worker in metals. The 
common people regarded his accomplishments in this direction 
with superstitious awe. Many stories of his skill were circulated, 
and it was even whispered that in a personal contest with Beelze- 
bub, it was the devil and not the monk who got the worst of it 
and fled from the saint's workshop, howling with dismay. 

104. New Invasions; Danegeld. — With the close of Dun- 
stan's career, the period of decline sets in. Fresh inroads began 
on the part of the Northmen, 1 and so feeble and faint-hearted 
grew the resistance that at last a royal tax, called Danegeld, or 
Dane-money, was levied on all landed property in order to raise 
means to buy off the invaders. For a brief period this cowardly 
concession answered the purpose. But a time came when the 
Danes would no longer be bribed to keep away. 

; 105. The Northmen invade France. — The Danish invasion 
was really a part of a great European movement. The same 
Northmen who had obtained so large a part of England, had also, 
in the tenth century, under the leadership of Rollo, established 
themselves in France. There they were known as Normans, a 
softened form of the word " Northmen," and the district where they 
settled came to be called from them Normandy. They founded 



1 This name was given to Norsemen, Swedes, Danes, and all northern tribes. 



No. 7. 



7J S C °&Z H-* N 



? 

ENGX.A1VD 

AT THE 

TIME OF THE NORMAN CONQUEST 

1066. 

Showing the four great earldoms of 

1. Wessex YWXMA 

2. Mercian fc^v^ 

3. East Anglia - i I 

L Northumberland.raZZra 

With the principal towns and the dependent 

Mngdoms of Strathclyde, North 

and West Wales, and. 

the Isle of Man. 




To face page 44. 









loot* 






Mi 



THE COMING OF THE SAXONS. 45 

a line of dukes, or princes, who were destined, in the course of the 
next century, to give a new aspect to the events of English history. 

106. Sweyn conquers England; Canute. 1 — In 1013 Sweyn, 
the Dane, conquered England, and "all the people," says the 
Chronicle, " held him for full king." He was succeeded by his son 
Canute, who, though from beyond sea, could hardly be called a 
foreigner, since he spoke a language and set up a government dif- 
fering but little from that of the English. After his first harsh 1 
measures were over he sought the friendship of both church and 
people. He rebuked the flattery of courtiers by showing them 
that the in-rolling tide is no respecter of persons ; he endeavored 
to rule justly, and- his liking for the monks found expression in 
his song: — 

"Merrily sang the monks of Ely 
As Cnut the King was passing by." 

107. Canute's Plan ; the Four Earldoms. — Canute's plan was 
to establish a great northern empire embracing Denmark, Norway, 
Sweden, and England. To facilitate the government of so large 
a realm, he divided England into four districts, Wessex, Mercia, 
East Anglia, and Northumbria, which, with their dependencies, 
embraced the entire country. Each of these districts was ruled 
by an earl 2 invested with almost royal power. For a time the 
arrangement worked well, but eventually discord sprang up be- 
tween the rulers, and the unity of the country was imperilled by 
their individual ambition and their efforts to obtain supreme 
authority. 

108. Prince Edward. — On the accession of the Danish con- 
queror Sweyn, Ethelred II., the Saxon king, sent his French wife 
Emma back to Normandy for safety. She took with her her son 
Prince Edward, then a lad of nine. He remained at the French 

1 Also spelled Cnut and Knut. 

2 Earl (" chief" or " leader ") : a title of honor, and of office. The four earldoms 
established by Canute remained nearly unchanged until the Norman Conquest, 1066. 
See Map No. 7, page 44. 



46 LEADING FACTS OF ENGLISH HISTORY. 

court nearly thirty years, and among other friends to whom he 
became greatly attached was his second cousin, William, Duke of 
Normandy. 

109. Restoration of the English Kings ; Edward the Confessor. 
— In 1042 the oppressive acts of Canute's sons excited insurrec- 
tion, and both Danes and Saxons joined in the determination to 
restore the Saxon line. Edward was invited to accept the crown. 
He returned to England and obtained the throne. By birth he 
was already half Norman ; by education and tastes he was wholly 
so. It is very doubtful whether he could speak a word of English, 
and it is' certain that from the beginning he surrounded himself 
with French favorites, and filled the church with French priests. 
Edward's piety and blameless life gained for him the title of 
"the Confessor," or, as we should say to-day, "the Christian." 
He married the daughter of Godwin, Earl of Wessex, the most 
powerful noble in England. Godwin really ruled the country in 
the king's name until his death in 1053, when his son Harold 
succeeded him as earl. The latter continued to exercise his 
father's influence to counteract the French. 

110. Edward "builds Westminster Abbey. — During a large 
part of his reign, Edward was engaged in building an abbey at the 
west end of London, and hence called the West-minster. 1 He had 
just completed and consecrated this great work when he died, and 
was buried there. We may still, see a part of his building in the 
crypt or basement of the abbey, while the king's tomb above is 
the centre around which lies a circle of royal graves. To it mul- 
titudes made pilgrimage in the olden time, and once every year 
a little band of devoted Roman Catholics still gather about it in 
veneration of virtues that would have adorned a cloister, but had 
not breadth and vigor to fill a throne. 

With Edward, save for the short interlude of Harold, the last 
of the Saxon kings and the "ablest man of an unprogressive race," 
the period closes. 



1 Minster : a name given originally to a monastery ; next, to a church connected 
with a monastery ; and now often, though incorrectly, applied to a cathedral. 



THE COMING OF THE SAXONS. 47 

111. Harold becomes King, 1066. — On his death-bed, Edward, 
who had no children, recommended Harold, Earl of Wessex, as 
his successor, though, according to the Normans, he had prom- 
ised that their Duke William, who, as we have seen, was a distant 
kinsman, should reign after him. The Witan, 1 or National Coun- 
cil, chose Harold, who was crowned Jan. 16, 1066. 

112. What the Saxon Conquest did for Britain. — Saxons, 
Jutes, and Angles invaded Britain at a period when its original 
inhabitants had become cowed and enervated by the despotism 
and worn-out civilization forced on them by a foreign power. 

The new-comers brought that healthy spirit of barbarism, that 
irrepressible love of personal liberty, Which the country stood most 
in need of. The conquerors were rough, ignorant, cruel; but 
they were fearless and determined. These qualities were worth 
a thousand times more to Britain than the gilded corruption of 
Rome. In time, the English themselves lost spirit. Their beset- 
ting sin was a stolidity which degenerated into animalism and 
sluggish content. 

113. Elements contributed by the Danes. — Then came the 
Danes, bringing with them that new spirit of still more savage in- 
dependence which so well expressed itself in their song, "I trust 
my sword, I trust my steed, but most I trust myself at need." 
They conquered the land, and in conquering regenerated it. So 
strong was their love of independence, that even the peasants were 
quite generally free. More small independent landholders were 
found among the Danish population than anywhere else ; and it 
is said that the number now existing in the region they settled 
is still much larger than in the south. Finally, the Danes and 
English, both of whom sprang from the same parent stock, mingled 
and became in all respects one people. 

114. Summary: What the Anglo-Saxons accomplished. — 

Thus Jutes, Saxons, Angles, and Danes, whom together we may 

1 Witan: literally the " Wise men." the chief men of the realm. 



48 LEADING FACTS OF ENGLISH HISTORY. 

call the Anglo-Saxons, 1 laid the corner-stone of the English nation. 
However much it has changed since, it remains, nevertheless, in its 
solid and fundamental qualities, what these first peoples made it. 

They gave first the language, simple, strong, direct, and plain, — 
the familiar, every-day speech of the fireside and the street, the 
well-known words of both the newspaper and the Bible. 

Next, they established the government in its main outlines as it 
still exists ; that is, a king, a legislative body representing the peo- 
ple, and the germ, at least, of a judicial system embodying trial 
by jury. 2 

Last, and best, they furnished that conservative patience, that 
calm, steady, persistent effort, that indomitable tenacity of pur- 
pose, and cool, determined courage, which have won glorious 
battle-fields on both sides the Atlantic, and which in peace, as 
well as in war, are destined to win still greater victories in the 
future. 

GENERAL VIEW OF THE SAXON, OR EARLY ENGLISH, 
PERIOD — 449-1066. 3 

I. GOVERNMENT. — II. RELIGION. — III. MILITARY AFFAIRS. — IV. 
LITERATURE, LEARNING, AND ART. — V. GENERAL INDUSTRY AND 
COMMERCE. — VI. MODE OF LIFE, MANNERS, AND CUSTOMS. 

GOVERNMENT. 

115. Beginning of the English Monarchy. — During the greater 
part of the first four centuries after the Saxon conquest Britain was 
divided into a number of tribal settlements, or petty kingdoms, held by 
Jutes, Angles, and Saxons, constantly at war with each other. In the 

1 Anglo-Saxons : some authorities insist that this phrase means the Saxons ot 
England in distinction from those of the continent. It is used here, however, in 
the sense given by Mr. Freeman as a term describing the people formed in England 
by the union of all the Germanic tribes. 

2 See Paragraph No. 125. 

8 This section contains a summary of much of the preceding period, with con- 
siderable additional matter. It is believed that it will be found useful both for 
review and for reference. Wljen^a continuous narrative history is desired, this, and 
similar sections following, may be omitted. 



THE COMING OF THE SAXONS. 49 

ninth century, the West Saxons, or inhabitants of Wessex, succeeded, 
under the leadership of Egbert, in practically conquering and uniting 
the country. Egbert now assumed the title of " King of the English," 
and Britain came to be known, from the name of its largest division, 
as Angle-Land, or England. Later, the Danes obtained possession of 
a large part of the country, but eventually united with the English and 
became one people. 

116. The King and the Witan. — The government of England 
was vested in an elective sovereign, assisted by the council of the Witan, 
or Wise Men. Every freeman had the right to attend this national 
council, but, in practice, the right became confined to a small number 
of the nobles and clergy. 

117. What the- Witan could do. — I. The Witan elected the 
king (its choice being confined to the royal family). 2. In case of 
misgovernment, it deposed him. 3. It made or confirmed grants of 
public lands. 4. It acted as a supreme court of justice both in civil 
and criminal cases. 

118. What the King and Witan could do. — 1. They enacted 
the laws, both civil and ecclesiastical. (In most cases this meant noth- 
ing more than stating what the custom was, the common law being 
merely the common custom.) 2. They levied taxes. 3. They declared 
war and made peace. 40 They appointed the chief officers and bishops 
of the realm. 

119. Land-Tenure before the Conquest. — Before they invaded 
Britain the Saxons and kindred tribes appear to have held their estates 
in common. Each had a permanent homestead, but that was all. 1 "No 
one," says Caesar, " has a fixed quantity of land or boundaries to his 
property. The magistrates and chiefs assign every year to the families 
and communities who live together, as much land and in such spots as 
they think suitable. The following year they require them to take up 
another allotment. 

*' The chief glory of the tribes is to have their territory surrounded 
with as wide a belt as possible of waste land. They deem it not only a 
special mark of valor that every neighboring tribe should be driven to 
a distance, and that no stranger should dare to reside in their vicinity, 

1 " The houses were not contiguous, but each was surrounded by a space of its 
own ." — TACITUS, Germania. 



5° 



LEADING FACTS OF ENGLISH HISTORY. 



but at the same time they regard it as a precautionary measure against 
sudden attacks." 1 

120. Folkland. — Each tribe, in forming its settlement, seized more 
land than it actually needed. This excess was known as Folkland (the 
People's land), and might be used by all alike for pasturing cattle or 
cutting wood. With the consent of the Witan, the king might grant 
portions of this Folkland as a reward for services done to himself or 
to the community. Such grants were usually conditional and could 
only be made for a time. Eventually, they returned to the community. 
Other grants, however, might be made in the same way, which con- 
ferred full ownership. Such grants were called Bocland (Book land) v 
because conveyed by writing, or registered in a charter or book. In 
time, the king obtained the power of making these grants without 
having to consult the Witan, and at last the whole of the Folkland 
came to be regarded as the absolute property of the crown. 

121. Duties of Freemen. — Every freeman was obliged to do three 
things : I. He must assist in the maintenance of roads and bridges. 2. 
He must aid in the repair of forts. 3. He must serve in case of war. 
Whoever neglected or refused to perform this last and most important 
of all duties was declared to be a Nit king, or infamous coward. 2 

122. The Feudal System. — In addition to the Eorls (earls) 3 or 
nobles by birth, there gradually grew up a class known as Thanes (com- 
panions or servants of the king), who in time outranked the hereditary 
nobility. To both these classes the king would have occasion to give 
rewards for faithful service and for deeds of valor. As his chief wealth 
consisted in land, he would naturally give that. At first no conditions 
seem to have been attached to the gift ; but later the king might require 
the receiver to agree to furnish a certain number of fully equipped sol- 

1 Cassar, Gallic War, Book VI. 

2 Also written Niding. The English, as a rule, were more afraid of this name 
than of death itself. 

3 The Saxons, or Early English, were divided up into three classes, — Eorls 
(earls), who were noble by birth; Ceorls (churls), or simple freemen, and slaves. 
The slaves were either the absolute property of the master, or were bound to the 
soil and sold with it. This latter class, under the Norman name of villeins, be- 
came numerous after the Norman Conquest in the eleventh century. The chief- 
tains of the first Saxon settlers were called either Ealdormen (aldermen) or Here- 
togas, the first being civil or magisterial, the latter military officers. The Thanes 
were a later class, who, from serving the king or some powerful leader, became 
noble by military service. 



THE COMING OF THE SAXONS. 5 1 

diers to fight for him. These grants were originally made for life only, 
and on the death of the recipient they returned to the crown. 

The nobles and other great landholders following the example of 
the king, granted portions of their estates to tenants on similar condi- 
tions, and these again might grant portions to those below them in 
return for satisfactory military or other service. 

In time, it came to be an established principle, that every freeman 
below the rank of a noble must be attached to some superior whom he 
was bound to serve, and who, on the other hand, was his legal pro- 
tector and responsible for his good behavior. The lordless man was, 
in fact, a kind of outlaw, and might be seized like a robber. In that 
respect, therefore, he would be worse off than the slave, who had a 
master to whom he was accountable and who was accountable for him. 
Eventually it became common for the small landholders, especially 
during the Danish invasions, to seek the protection of some neighbor- 
ing lord who had a large band of followers at his command. In such 
cases the freeman gave up his land and received it ^gain on certain 
conditions. The usual form was for him to kneel, and, placing his 
hands within those of the lord, to swear an oath of homage, saying, 
" I become your man for the lands which I hold of you, and I will be 
faithful to you against all men, saving only the service which I owe to 
my lord the King." On his side, the lord solemnly promised to defend 
his tenant or vassal in the possession of his property, for which, he was 
to perform some service to the lord. 

In these two ways, first, by grant of lands from the king or a supe- 
rior, and second, by the act of homage (known as commendation), the 
feudal system (a name derived from feodum, meaning land or property), 
grew up in England. Its growth, however, was irregular and incom- 
plete ; and it should be distinctly understood that it was not until after the 
Norman Conquest in the eleventh century that it became fully established. 

123. Advantages of Feudalism. — This system had at that time 
many advantages. I. The old method of holding land in common was 
a wasteful one, since the way in which the possessor of a field might 
cultivate it would perhaps spoil it for the one who received it at the 
next allotment. 2. In an age of constant warfare, feudalism protected 
all classes better than if they had stood apart, and it enabled the king 
to raise a powerful and well-armed force in the easiest and quickest 
manner. 3. It cultivated two important virtues, — fidelity on the part of 
the vassal, protection on that of the lord. Its corner-stone was the 



52 LEADING FACTS OF ENGLISH HISTORY. 

faithfulness of man to man. Society has outgrown feudalism, which 
like every system had its dark side, but it can never outgrow the feudal 
principle. 

124. Political Divisions ; the Sheriff. — Politically, the kingdom 
was divided into townships, hundreds (districts furnishing a hundred 
warriors, or supporting a hundred families), and shires or counties, the 
shire having been originally, in some cases, the section settled by an 
independent tribe, as Sussex, Essex, etc. 

In each shire the king had an officer, called a shire-reeve or sheriff, 1 
who represented him, collected the taxes due the crown, and saw to 
the execution of the laws. In like manner, the town and the hundred 
had a head-man of its own choosing to see to matters of general 
interest. 

125. The Courts. — As the nation had its assembly of wise men 
acting as a high court, so each shire, hundred, and town had its court, 
which all freemen might attend. There, without any sp -rial judge, 
jury, or lawyers, cases of all kinds were tried and settled /y the voice 
of the entire body, who were both judge and jury in themselves. 

126. Methods of Procedure ; Compurgation. — In these courts 
there were two methods of procedure : first, the accused might clear 
himself of the charge brought against him by compurgation ; 2 that is, by 
swearing that he was not guilty and getting a number of reputable 
neighbors to swear that they believed his oath. If their oaths were 
not satisfactory, witnesses might be brought to swear to some particular 
fact. In every case the value of the oath was graduated according to 
the rank of the person, that of a man of high rank being worth as 
much as that of twelve common men. 

127. The Ordeal. — If the accused could not clear himself in this 
way, he was obliged to submit to the ordeal. 3 This usually consisted 
in carrying a piece of hot iron a certain distance, or in plunging the 
arm up to the elbow in boiling water. The person who underwent the 
ordeal appealed to God to prove his innocence by protecting him from 
harm. Rude as both these methods were, they were better than the 
old tribal method, which permitted every man or every man's family to 
be the avenger of his wrongs. 

1 Reeve : a man in authority, or having charge of something. 

2 Compurgation : the act of wholly purifying or clearing a person from guilt. 
8 Ordeal: judgment. 



THE COMING OF THE SAXONS. 53 

128. The Common Law. — The laws by which these cases were 
tried were almost always ancient customs, few of which had been re« 
duced to writing. They formed that body of common law 1 which is the 
foundation of the modern system of justice both in England and 
America. 

129. Penalties. — The penalties inflicted by these courts consisted 
chiefly of fines. Each man's life had a certain pecuniary value. The 
punishment for the murder of a man of very high rank was 2400 shil- 
lings ; that of a simple freeman was only one-twelfth as much. 

A slave could neither testify in court nor be punished by the court. 
For the man in that day who held no land had no rights. If a slave 
was convicted of crime, his master paid the fine and then took what he 
considered an equivalent with the lash. Treason was punished with 
death, and common scolds were ducked in a pond until they were glad 
to hold their tongues. 

RELIGION. 

130. The Ancient Saxon Faith. — Before their conversion to 
Christianity, the Saxons worshipped Woden and Thor, names pre- 
served in Wednesday (Woden's day) and Thursday (Thor's day). The 
first appears to have been considered the creator and ruler of heaven 
and earth ; the second was his son, the god of thunder, slayer of evil 
spirits, and friend of man. The essential element of their religion was 
the deification of strength, courage, and fortitude. It was a faith well 
suited to a warlike people. It taught that there was a heaven for the 
brave, and a hell for cowards. 

131. What Christianity did. — Christianity, on the contrary, laid 
emphasis on the virtues of self-sacrifice and sympathy. It took the side 
of the weak and the helpless. It labored to emancipate the slave. It 
built monasteries, and encouraged industry and education. The church 
edifice was a kind of open Bible. Very few who entered it could spell 
out a single word of either Old or New Testament, but all, from the 
poorest peasant or meanest slave up to the greatest noble, could read 
the meaning of the Scripture histories painted on wall and window. 

The church, furthermore, was a peculiarly sacred place. It was power- 
ful to shield those who were in danger. If a criminal, or a person flee- 

1 So called, in distinction from the later statute laws made by Parliament and 
other legislative bodies. 



54 LEADING FACTS OF ENGLISH HISTORY. 

ing from vengeance, took refuge in it, he could not be seized until forty 
days had expired, during which time he had the privilege of leaving the 
kingdom and going into exile. This "right of sanctuary" was often a 
needful protection in an age of violence. It became, however, in time, 
an intolerable nuisance, since it enabled robbers and desperadoes of all 
kinds to defy the law. The right was modified at different times 4 but 
was not wholly abolished until 1624, in the reign of James I. 

MILITARY AFFAIRS. 

132. The Army. — The organization of the army has already been 
spoken of under Land-Tenure. It consisted of a national and a feudal 
militia. ■ From the earliest times all freemen were obliged to fight in 
the defence of the country. Under the feudal system, every large land- 
holder had to furnish the king a stipulated number of men, fully equipped 
with armor and weapons. As this method was found more effective than 
the first, it gradually superseded it. 

The Saxons always fought on foot. They wore helmets and rude, 
flexible armor, formed of iron rings, or of stout leather covered with 
small plates of iron and other substances. They carried oval-shaped 
shields. Their chief weapons were the spear, javelin, battle-axe, and 
sword. The wars of this period were those of the diffen \t tribes seek- 
ing supremacy, Or of the English with the Danes. 

133. The Navy. — Until Alfred's reign, the English had no navy. 
From that period they maintained a fleet of small war-ships to protect 
the coast from invasion. Most of these vessels appear to have been 
furnished by certain ports on the south coast. 

LITERATURE, LEARNING, AND ART. 

134. Runes. — The language of the Saxons was of Low-German 
origin. Many of the words resemble the German of the present day. 
When written, the characters were called rimes, mysteries or secrets. 
The chief use of these runes was to mark a sword-hilt, or some article 
of value, or to form a charm against evil and witchcraft. 

It is supposed that one of the earliest runic inscriptions is the follow- 
ing, which dates from about 400 a.d. It is cut on a drinking-horn.. 1 
and (reproduced in English characters) stands thus : — 

1 The golden horn of Gallehas, found on the Danish-German frontier. 



THE COMING OF THE SAXONS. 55 

EK HLEWAGASTIR . HOLTINGAR . HORNA . TAWIDO. 

/, Hlewgastir> son of Holt a, made the horn. 

With the introduction of Christianity, the Latin alphabet, from which 
our modern English alphabet is derived, took the place of the runic 
characters, which bore some resemblance to Greek, and English litera- 
ture began with the coming of the monks. 

135. The First Books. — One of the first English books was the 
Anglo-Saxon Chronicle, a history covering a period of about twelve 
hundred years, beginning with the Roman invasion and ending in the 
year 1154. 

Though written in prose, it contains various fragments of poetry, of 
which the following (rendered into modern English), on the death of 
Edward the Confessor, 1066, may be quoted as an example : — 



' Then suddenly came 
Death the bitter 
And that dear prince seized. 
Angels bore 
His steadfast soul, 
Into heaven's light. 
But the wise King, 
Bestowed his realm 
On one grown great, 



On Harold's self, 
A noble Earl! 
Who in all times 
Faithfully hearkened 
Unto his lord, 
In word and deed, 
Nor ever failed 
In aught the King 
Had needed of him !" 



Other early books were Caedmon's poem of the Creation, also in 
English, and Bede's church history of Britain, written in Latin, a work 
giving a full and most interesting account of the coming of Augustine 
and his first preaching in Kent. All of these books were written by 
the monks. 

136. Art. — The English were skilful workers in metal, especially in 
gold and silver, and also in the illumination of manuscripts. 1 Alfred's 
Jewel, a fine specimen of the blue enamelled gold of the ninth century, 
is preserved in the Ashmolean Museum, Oxford. It bears the inscrip- 
tion: "Alfred me heht gewurcan," Alfred caused me to be worked 
[or made"] . 

The women of that period excelled in weaving fine linen and woollen 
cloth and in embroidering tapestry. 

1 These illuminations get their name from the gold, silver, and bright colors used 
in the pictures, borders, and decorated letters with which the monks ornamented 
these books. For beautiful specimens of the work, see Silvestre's Paleographie. 



56 LEADING FACTS OF ENGLISH HISTORY. 

137. Architecture. — In architecture no advance took place until 
very late. Up to the year iooo the general belief that the world would 
end with the close of the year 999 prevented men from building for 
permanence. The Saxon stone work exhibited in a few buildings like 
the church-tower of Earl's Barton, Northamptonshire, is an attempt 
to imitate timber with stone, and has been called "stone carpentry. 11 1 
Edward the Confessors work in Westminster Abbey was not Saxonj 
but Norman, he having obtained his plans, and probably his builders 
from Normandy. 

GENERAL INDUSTRY AND COMMERCE. 

138. Farms; Slave-Trade. — The farming of this period, except 
on the church lands, was of the rudest description. Grain was ground 
by the women and slaves in stone hand-mills. Later, the mills were 
driven by wind or water power. The principal commerce was in wool, 
lead, tin, and slaves. A writer of that time says he used to see long 
trains of young men and women tied together, offered for sale, "for 
men were not ashamed, 11 he adds, ** to sell their nearest relatives, and 
even their own children. 11 

MODE OF LIFE, MANNERS, AND CUSTOMS. 

139. The Town. — The first Saxon settlements were quite generally 
on the line of the old Roman roads. They were surrounded by a ram- 
part of earth set with a thick hedge or with rows of sharp stakes. 
Outside this was a deep ditch. These places were called towns from 
" tun," meaning a fence, hedge, or other enclosure. 2 

140. The Hall. — The buildings in these towns were of wood. 
Those of the lords or chief men were called <; halls' 1 from the fact that 
they consisted mainly of a hall, or large room, used as a sitting, eating 
and, often as a sleeping room, — a bundle of straw or some skins 
thrown on the floor serving for beds. There were no chimneys, but a 
hole in the roof let out the smoke. If the owner was rich, the walls 
would be decorated with bright-colored tapestry, and with suits of 
armor and shields hanging from pegs. 



* See Parker's Introduction to Gothic Architecture for illustrations of this work. 
3 One or more houses might constitute a town. A single farmhouse is still so 
called in Scotland. 



THE COMING OF THE SAXONS. 57 

141. Life in the Hall. — Here in the evening the master supped on 
a raised platform at one end of the " hall," while his followers ate at a 
lower table. 

The Saxons were hard drinkers as well as hard fighters. After the 
meal, while horns of ale and mead were circulating, the minstrels, tak- 
ing their harps, would sing songs of battle and ballads of wild adven- 
ture. 

Outside the « • hall " were the " bowers," or chambers for the master 
and his family, and, perhaps, an upper chamber for a guest, called 
later by the Normans a sollar, or sunny room. 

If a stranger approached a town, he was obliged to blow a horn ; 
otherwise, he might be slain as an outlaw. 

Here, in the midst of rude plenty the Saxons or Early English lived 
a life of sturdy independence. They were rough, strong, outspoken, 
and fearless. Theirs was not the nimble brain, for that was to come 
with another people, though a people originally of the same race. 
Their mission was to lay the foundation ; or, in other words, to furnish 
the muscle, grit, and endurance, without which the nimble brain is of 
litjAe permanent value. 

y 142. Guilds. — The inhabitants of the towns and cities had various 
associations called guilds (from gild, a payment or contribution). The 
object of these was mutual assistance. The most important were the 
!Peace-guilds a and the Merchant-guilds. The former constituted a 
voluntary police-force to preserve order, and bring thieves to punish- 
ment. Each member contributed a small sum to form a common fund 
which was used to make good any losses incurred by robbery or fire. 
The association held itself responsible for the good behavior of its 
members, and kept a sharp eye on strangers and stragglers, who had 
to give an account of themselves or leave the country. The Merchant- 
guilds were organized, apparently at a late period, to protect and extend 
trade. After the Norman Conquest they came to be very wealthy and 
influential. In addition to the above there were social and religious 
guilds which made provision for feasts, for the maintenance of religious 
services, and for the relief of the poor and the sick. 



Frithgilds. 



58 LEADING FACTS OF ENGLISH HISTORY. 



**In other countries, trie struggle has been to gain liberty; In England^ 
to preserve it." — Alison. 



THE COMING OF THE NORMANS. 
THE KING versus THE BARONS. 
Building the Norman Superstructure. — The Age of Feudalism. 

NORMAN SOVEREIGNS. 

William I., 1066-1087. Henry I., 1100-1135. 

William II., 1087-1100. Stephen (House of Blois), 1135-1154- 

143. Duke William hears of Harold's Accession; message 
to Harold. — Duke William of Normandy was in his park near 
Rouen, the capital of his dukedom, getting ready for a hunting 
expedition, when the news was brought to him of Harold's acces- 
sion. The old chronicler says " he stopped short in his prepara- 
tions ; he spoke to no man, and no man dared speak to him." 

At length he resolved to send a message to the king of England. 
His demand is not known ; but whatever it was, Harold appears 
to have answered with a rough refusal. 

144. William prepares to invade England. — Then William 
determined to appeal to the sword. During the spring and sum- 
mer of that year, the duke was employed in fitting out a fleet for 
the invasion, and his smiths and armorers were busy making 
lances, swords, and coats of mail. The Pope favored the expedi- 
tion, and presented a banner blessed by himself, to be carried in 



THE COMING OF THE NORMANS. 59 

the attack ; "mothers, too, sent their sons for the salvation of their 
'souls." 

145. The Expedition sails. — After many delays, at length all 
was ready, and at daybreak, Sept. 27, 1066, William sailed with a 
fleet of several hundred ships and a large number of transports, 
his own vessel leading the van, with the consecrated banner at the 
mast-head. His army consisted of archers and cavalry, and may 
have numbered between fifty and sixty thousand. They were 
partly his own subjects, and partly hired soldiers, or those who 
joined for the sake of plunder. He also carried a large force of 
smiths and carpenters, with timber ready cut and fitted for a 
wooden castle. 

146. William lands at Pevensey. — The next day the fleet 

anchored at Pevensey, 1 under the walls of that old Roman fortress 
of Anderida, which had stood, a vacant ruin, since the Saxons 
stormed it nearly six hundred years before. As William stepped 
on shore he stumbled and fell. " God preserve us ! " cried one 
of his men, "this is a bad sign." But the. duke, grasping the 
pebbles of the beach with both his outstretched hands, exclaimed, 
"Thus do I seize the land ! " 

147. Harold in the North. — There was, in fact, no power to 
prevent him from establishing his camp, for King Harold was in 
the north quelling an invasion headed by the king of the Norwe- 
gians and his brother Tostig, who hoped to secure the throne 
for himself. Harold had just sat down to a victory-feast, after 
the battle of Stamford Bridge, 2 when news was brought to him of 
the landing of William. It was this fatal want of unity in England 
which made the Norman conquest possible. Had not Harold's 
own brother Tostig turned traitorously against him, or had the 
north country stood squarely by the south, Duke William might 
have found his fall on the beach an omen indeed full of disaster. 

1 Pevensey : see Map No. 7, page 44. 

2 Stamford Bridge, Yorkshire. 



60 LEADING FACTS OF ENGLISH HISTORY. 

148. What William did after landing. — As there was no 

one to oppose him, William made a fort in a corner of the old 
Roman wall of Anderida, and then marched on to Hastings, a few 
miles farther east, where he set up his wooden castle on that hill 
where the ruins of a later stone castle may still be seen. Having 
done this, he pillaged the country in every direction, until the 
fourteenth of O.ctober, the day of the great battle. 

149. Harold marches to meet William. — Harold, having 
gathered what forces he could, marched to meet William at Sen- 
lac, a place midway between Pevensey and Hastings, and about 
five miles back from the coast. Here, on the evening of the thir- 
teenth, he entrenched himself on a hill, and there the battle was 
waged. Harold had the advantage of the stockaded fort he had 
built ; William, that of a body of cavalry and archers, for the English 
fought on foot with javelins and battle-axes mainly. The Saxons 
spent the night in feasting and song; the Normans, in prayer 
and confession. 

150. The Battle (Oct. 14, 1066). — On the morning of the 
fourteenth the fight began. It lasted until dark, with heavy loss 
on both sides. At length William's strategy carried the day, and 
Harold and his brave followers found to their cost that then, as 
now, it is " the thinking bayonet " which conquers. The English 
king was slain and every man of his chosen troops with him. A 
monkish chronicler, in speaking of the Conquest, says that " the 
vices of the Saxons had made them effeminate and womanish, 
wherefore it came to pass that, running against Duke William, they 
lost themselves and their country with one, and that an easy and 
light, battle." * Doubtless the English had fallen off in many ways 
from their first estate; but the record at Senlac (or Hastings) 
shows that they had lost neither strength, courage, nor endurance, 
and a harder battle or a longer was never fought on British soil. 

151. The Abbey of Battle; Harold's Grave. —A few years 

later, the Norman conqueror built the Abbey of Battle on the 



1 William of Malmesbury. 



THE COMING OF THE NORMANS. 6l 

spot to commemorate the victory by which he gained his crown, 
and to have perpetual prayers chanted by the monks over the 
Norman soldiers who had fallen there. Here, also, tradition 
represents him as having buried Harold's body, just after the fight, 
under a heap of stones by the seashore. Some months later, it 
is said that the friends of the English king removed the remains 
to Waltham, near London, and buried them in the church which 
he had built and endowed there. 1 Be that as it may, his grave, 
wherever it is, is the grave of the old England, for henceforth a 
new people (though not a new race) and a somewhat modified 
form of government appear in the history of the island. 

152. The Bayeuk Tapestry. — Several contemporary accounts. 
of the battle exist by both French and English writers, but the 
best history is one wrought in colors by a woman's hand, in the 
scenes of the famous strip of canvas known from the French 
cathedral where it is still preserved, as the Bayeux Tapestry. 2 

153. William marches on London. — Soon after the battle, 
William advanced on London, and set fire to the Southwark 
suburbs. 3 The Londoners, terrified by the flames, and later cut 
off from help from the north by the Conqueror's besieging army, 
opened their gates and surrendered without striking a blow. 

154. William grants a Charter to London. — In return, Wil- 
liam granted the city a charter, or formal and solemn written 
pledge, by which he guaranteed the inhabitants the liberties which 
they had enjoyed under Edward the Confessor. That document 
may still be seen among the records in Guildhall, 4 in London. It 
is a bit of parchment, hardly bigger than a man's hand, containing 
a few lines in English, and is signed with William's mark ; for he 
who wielded the sword so effectually either could not or would 

1 This church became afterward Waltham Abbey. 

2 See Paragraph No. 205. 

8 Southwark, on the right bank of the Thames. It is now connected with 
London proper by London Bridge. 

4 Guildhall : the City-Hall, the place where the guilds, or different corporations 
of the city proper, meet to transact business. 



02 LEADING FACTS OF ENGLISH HISTORY. 

not handle the pen. By that mark all the past privileges and 
immunities of the city were confirmed and protected. 

155. The Coronation; William returns to Normandy. — On 

the following Christmas Day (1066) William was anointed and 
crowned in Westminster Abbey. In the spring he sailed for 
Normandy, where he had left his queen, Matilda, to govern in 
his absence. While on the continent he intrusted England 
to the hands of his half-brother, Odo, Bishop of Bayeux, and his 
friend, William Fitz-Osbern, having made the former, Earl of Kent, 
and the latter, of Hereford. During the next three years there 
were outbreaks and uprisings in the lowlands of Cambridgeshire 
and the moors of Yorkshire, besides incursions of both Danes and 
Scots. 

156. William quells Rebellion in the North. — The oppressive 
rule of the regents soon caused a rebellion ; and in December 
William found it expedient to return to England. In order to 
gain time, the king bought off the Danes. Little by little, how- 
ever, the land was brought to obedience. By forced marches in 
midwinter, by roads cast up through bogs, and by sudden night 
attacks, William accomplished the end he sought. But in 1069, 
news came of a fresh revolt in the north, accompanied by another 
invasion of foreign barbarians. Then William, roused to terrible 
anger, swore by the " splendor of God " that he would lay waste 
the land. He made good his oath. For a hundred miles beyond 
the river Humber he ravaged the country, firing villages, destroy- 
ing houses, crops, and cattle, and reducing the wretched people 
to such destitution that many sold themselves for slaves to escape 
starvation. Having finished his work in the north, he turned 
toward Chester, in the west, and captured that city. 

157. Hereward. — Every part of the land was now in William's 
power except an island in the swamps of Ely, 1 in the east, where 
the Englishman Hereward, with his resolute little band of fellow- 

1 Ely, Cambridgeshire. 



THE COMING OF THE NORMANS. 6$ 

countrymen, continued to defy the power of the conqueror. " Had 
there been three more men like him in the island," said one of 
William's own men, " the Normans would never have entered it." 
But as there were not three more such, the conquest was at length 
completed. 

158. Necessity of William's Severity. — Fearful as the woik of 

death had been, yet even these pitiless measures were better than 
that England should sink into anarchy, or into subjection to hordes 
of Norsemen who destroyed purely out of love of destruction and 
hatred to civilization and its works. For whatever William's faults 
or crimes, his great object was the upbuilding of a government 
better than any England had yet seen. Hence his severity, hence 
his elaborate safeguards, by which he made sure of retaining his 
hold upon whatever he had gained. 

159. He builds the Tower of London. — We have seen that he 
gave London a charter ; but overlooking the place in which that 
charter was kept, he" built the Tower of London to hold the turbu- 
lent city m wholesome restraint. That tower, as fortress, palace, 
and prison, stands as the dark background of most of the great 
events in English history. It was the forerunner, so to speak, of 
the multitude of castles which soon after rose on the banks of 
every river, and on the summit of every rocky height from the 
west hill of Hastings to the peak of Derbyshire, and from the 
banks of the Thames to those of the Tweed. Side by side with 
these strongholds there also rose an almost equal number of 
monasteries, churches and cathedrals. 

^160. William confiscates the Land; Classes of Society. — 

Hand in hand with the progress of conquest, the confiscation of 
land went on. William had seized the estates of Harold and all 
the chief men associated with him, to grant them to his followers. 
In this way, Bishop Odo, Fitz-Osbern, and Roger of Montgomery 
became possessed of immense estates in various parts of England. 
Oth "r grants were made by him, until by the close of his reign, 
no great landholder was left among the English, with the excep- 



64 LEADING FACTS OF ENGLISH HISTORY. 

tion of a very few who were thoroughly Norman in their sympa* 
thies and in their allegiance. 

Two great classes of society now existed in England. First, the 
Norman conquerors, who as chief tenants or landholders under the 
king were called barons. Second, the English who had been 
reduced to a subordinate condition. Most of these now held their 
land under the barons, and a majority of them were no longer free. 

This latter class were called villeins. 1 They were bound to 
the soil, and could be sold with it, but not, like slaves, sepa- 
rately from it. They could be compelled to perform any menial 
service, but usually held their plots of land and humble cottages 
on condition of ploughing a certain number of acres or doing 
a certain number of days' work in each year for their lord. In 
time they often obtained the privilege of paying a fixed money 
rent in place of labor, and then their condition gradually though 
very slowly improved. 

161. How he granted Estates. — Yet it is noticeable that in 
these grants, William was careful not to give large possessions to 
any one person in any one shire. His experience in Normandy 
had taught him that it was better to divide than to concen- 
trate the power of the great nobles, who were only too ready to 
plot to get the crown for themselves. Thus William developed 
and extended the feudal system of land tenure, already in exist- 
ence in outline among the Saxons, until it covered every part of 
the realm. He, however, kept it strictly subordinate to himself, 
and before the close of his reign made it absolutely so. 

162. The Three Counties Palatine. — The only exceptions to 
these grants were the three Counties Palatine, 2 which defended 

1 Villein: a name derived from the Latin villa, a country-house, or farm, because 
originally the villein was a laborer who had a share in the common land. Our 
modern word "villain" comes from the same source, though time has given it a 
totally different meaning. 

2 Palatine (from palatium, palace), having rights equal with the king in his 
palace. Shropshire was practically a fourth county palatine until Henry I. Later. 
Lancaster was added to the list. 



THE COMING OF THE NORMANS. 65 

the border country in the north and west, and the coast on the 
south. To the earls of these counties, Chester, Durham, and 
Kent, William gave almost royal power, which descended in 
their families, thus making the title hereditary. 

163. How William stopped Assassination. — The hard rule 
of the Norman nobles caused many secret assassinations. To put 
a stop to these, William ordered that the people of the district 
where a murder was perpetrated should pay a heavy fine for every 
Norman so slain, it being assumed that unless they could prove 
to the contrary, every man found murdered was a Norman. 1 

164. Pope Gregory VII. — While these events were taking 
place in England, Hildebrand, the archdeacon who had urged 
Pope Alexander to favor William's expedition, had ascended the 
papal throne, under the title of Gregory. VII. He was the ablest, 
the most ambitious, and, in some respects, the most far-sighted 
man who had made himself the supreme head of the church. 

165. State of Europe; Gregory's Scheme of Reform. — Eu- 
rope was at that time in a condition little better than anarchy. 
A perpetual quarrel was going on between the barons. The church, 
too, as we have seen, had lost much of its power for good in Eng- 
land, and was rapidly falling into obscurity and contempt. Pope 
Gregory conceived a scheme of reform which should be both wide 
and deep. Like Dunstan, he determined to correct the abuses 
which had crept into the monasteries. He would have an unmar- 
ried priesthood, who should devote themselves body and soul to 
the interests of the church. He would bring all society into 
submission to that priesthood, and finally he would make the 
priesthood itself acknowledge him as its sole master. His purpose 
in this gigantic scheme was a noble one ; it was to establish the 
unity and peace of Europe. 

166. The Pope and the Conqueror. — Gregory looked to Wil- 
liam for help in this matter. The Conqueror was ready to give it 

1 This was known as the Law of Englishry. 



66 LEADING FACTS OF ENGLISH HISTORY. 

but with limitations. He promised to aid in reforming the Eng- 
lish church, to remove inefficient men from its high places, to 
establish special ecclesiastical courts for the trial of church cases, 
and finally, to pay a yearly tax to Rome ; but he refused to take 
any step which should make England politically subservient to the 
Pope. On the contrary, he emphatically declared that he was 
and would remain an independent sovereign, and that the English 
church must obey him in preference to any other power. 

He furthermore laid down these three rules : i . That neither 
the Pope, the Pope's representative, nor letters from the Pope 
should be received in England without his leave. 2. That no 
meeting of church authorities should be called or should take any 
action without his leave. 3. That no baron or servant of his 
should be expelled from the church without his leave. 

Thus William alone of all the sovereigns of Europe successfully 
withstood the power of Rome. Henry IV. of Germany had at- 
tempted the same, but so completely was he defeated and humbled 
that he had been compelled to stand barefooted in the snow before 
the Pope's palace waiting for three successive days for permission 
to enter and beg forgiveness. But William knew the independent 
temper of England, and that he could depend on it for support. 

167. William a Stern but Just Ruler ; New Forest. — Con- 
sidering his love of power and strength of will, the reign of Wil- 
liam was conspicuous for its justice. He was harsh but generally 
fair. His most despotic, act was the seizure and devastation of a 
tract of over 60,000 acres in Hampshire for a hunting-ground, 
which received the name of the New Forest. 1 It has been said 
that William destroyed many churches and estates in order to 
form this forest, but these accounts appear to have been greatly 
exaggerated. The real grievance was not so much the appropria- 
tion of the land, which was sterile and of little value, but it was the 



1 Forest: as here used, this does not mean a region covered with woods, but 
simply a section of country, partially wooded and suitable for game, set apart as a 
royal park or hunting-ground. As William made his residence at Winchester, in 
Hampshire, he naturally took land in that vicinity for the chase. 



THE COMING OF THE NORMANS. 67 

enactment of the savage Forest Laws. These made the life of a 
stag of more value than that of a man, and decreed that any one 
found hunting the royal deer should have both eyes torn out. 

168. The Great Survey. — Not quite twenty years after his 
coronation, William ordered a survey and valuation to be made of 
the whole realm outside of London, with the exception of certain 
border counties on the north. These appear to have been omitted 
either because they were sparsely populated by a mixed race, or 
for the reason that since his campaign in the north little was left 
to record there but heaps of ruins and ridges of grass-grown graves. 

169. The Dpjnesday Book. — The returns of that survey are 
known as Domesday or Doomsday Book, a name given, it is said, 
by the English, because, like the Day of Doom, it spared no one. 

It recorded every piece of property, and every particular con- 
cerning it. As the Chronicle indignantly said, not a rood of 
land, not a peasant's hut, not an ox, cow, pig, or even a hive of 
bees, escaped. While the report showed the wealth of the country, 
it also showed the suffering it had passed through in the revolts 
against William. Many towns had fallen into decay. Some were 
nearly depopulated. In Edward the Confessor's reign, York had 
1607 houses ; at the date of the survey, it had but 967, while Ox- 
ford which had had 721 houses had then only 243. 

This census and assessment proved of the highest importance to 
William and his successors. The people, indeed, said bitterly 
that the king kept the book constantly by him, in order "that 
he might be able to see at any time of how much more wool 
the English flock would bear fleecing." The object of the work, 
however, was not extortion, but to present a full and exact ac- 
count of the financial and military condition of the kingdom which 
might be directly available for revenue and defence. 

V 170. The Great Meeting, 1086. — In the midsummer following 
the completion of Domesday Book, William summoned all the 
nobles and chief landholders of the realm with their vassals, num- 
bering, it is said, about sixty thousand, to meet him on Salisbury 



68 LEADING FACTS OF ENGLISH HISTORY. 

Plain, Wiltshire. 1 There was a logical connection between that 
summons and the survey. Each man's possessions and each man's 
responsibility were now known. Thus Domesday Book prepared 
the way for the assembly, and for the action that was to be taken 
there. The place chosen was historic ground. On that field 
William had once reviewed his victorious troops, and in front of 
the encampment rose the hill of Old Sarum scarred with the 
remains of Roman entrenchments. Stonehenge was near. It was 
within sight of it, and of the burial mounds of those primeval races 
which had there had a home during the childhood of the world, 
that the Norman sovereign finished his work. 

171. The Oath of Allegiance. — There William demanded and 
received the sworn allegiance not only of every lord, but of every 
lord's free vassal or tenant, from Cornwall to the Scottish borders. 
By that act, England was made one. By it, it was settled that 
every man in the realm, of whatever condition, was bound first of 
all to fight for the king, even if in doing so he had to fight against 
his own lord. 

172. What William had done. — A score of years before, Wil- 
liam had landed, seeking a throne to which no human law had 
given him any just claim, but to ftvhich Nature had elected him by 
preordained decree when she endowed him with power to take, 
power to use, and power to holdJ It was fortunate for England 
that he came ; for out of chaos, or affairs fast drifting to chaos, his 
strong hand, clear brain, and resolute purpose brought order, 
beauty, safety, and stability, so that we may say with Guizot, that 
" England owes her liberties to her having been conquered by the 
Normans." 

173. William's Death. — In less than a year from that time, 
William went to Normandy to quell an invasion led by his eldest 

iThe Saxon seat of government had been at Winchester (Hampshire) ; under 
Edward the Confessor and Harold it was transferred to Westminster (London) ; but 
the honor was again restored to Winchester by William who made it his principal 
residence. This was perhaps the reason why he chose Salisbury Plain (the nearest 
open region) for the meeting. It was held where the modern city of Salisbury stands. 



THE COMING OF THE NORMANS. 69 

son, Robert. As he rode down a steep street in Mantes, his 
horse stumbled, and he received a fatal injury. He was carried 
to the priory of St. Gervase, just outside the city of Rouen. Early 
in the morning he was awakened by the great cathedral bell. " It 
is the hour of praise," his attendant said to him, "when the priests 
give thanks for the new day." William lifted up his hands in 
prayer and expired. 

174. His Burial. — His remains were taken for interment to 
St. Stephen's Church, 1 which he had built. As they were preparing 
to let down the body into the grave, a man suddenly stepped for- 
ward and forbade the burial. William, he said, had taken the 
land, on which the church stood, from his father by violence. He 
demanded payment. The corpse was left on the bier, and inquiry 
instituted, and not until the debt was discharged was the body 
lowered to its last resting-place. "Thus," says the old chronicle, 
" he who had been a powerful king, and the lord of so many terri- 
tories, possessed not then of all his lands more than seven feet of 
earth," and not even that until the cash was paid for it ! 

175. Summary. — The results of the conquest may be thus 
summed up: 1. It was not the subjugation of the English by a 
different race, but rather a victory won for their advantage by a 
branch* of their own race. 2 It brought England into closer con- 
tact with the higher civilization of the continent, introduced 
fresh intellectual stimulus, and gave to the Anglo-Saxon a more 
progressive spirit. 2. It modified the English language by the 
influence of the Norman French element, thus giving it greater 
flexibility, refinement, and elegance of expression. 3. It substi- 
tuted for the fragile and decaying structures of wood built by 
the Saxons, noble edifices in stone, the cathedral and the castle, 
both being essentially Norman, <- 4. It hastened consolidating 
influences already at .work, developed and completed the feudal 

1 Caen, Normandy. 

2 It has already been shown that Norman, Saxon, and Dane were originally 
branches of the Teutonic or German race. See Paragraphs Nos. 105 and 114. 






70 LEADING FACTS OF ENGLISH HISTORY. 

form of land tenure ; 1 reorganized the church, and denned the 
relation of the state to the papal power. 5. It abolished the 
four great earldoms, 2 which had been a constant source of weak- 
ness, danger, and division ; it put an end to the Danish invasions ; 
and it established a strong monarchical government to which 
the nobles and their vassals were compelled to swear allegiance. 
6. It made no radical changes in the English laws, but enforced 
impartial obedience to them among all classes. 

WILLIAM RUFUS. 3 — 1087-1100. 

176. William the Conqueror's Bequest. — William the Con- 
queror left three sons, — Robert, William Rufus, and Henry. He 
also left a daughter, Adela, who married a powerful French noble- 
man, Stephen, Count of Blois. On his death-bed, William be- 
queathed Normandy to Robert. He expressed a wish that William 
Rufus should become ruler over England, while to Henry he left 
five thousand pounds of silver, with the prediction that he would 
ultimately be the greatest of them all. Before his eyes were closed, 
the sons hurried away — William Rufus to seize the realm of Eng- 
land, Henry to get possession of his treasure. Robert was not 
present. His recent rebellion would alone have been sufficient 
reason for allotting to him the lesser portion ; but even had he 
deserved the sceptre, William knew that it required a firmer hand 
than his to hold it. 

177. Precarious State of England. — France was simply an 
aggregation of independent and mutually hostile dukedoms. The 
reckless ambition of the Norman leaders threatened to bring England 
into the same condition. During the twenty-one years of William's 
reign they had perpetually tried to break loose from his restrain- 
ing power. It was certain, then, that the news of his death would 
be the signal for still more desperate attempts. 

1 See Paragraph No. 200. 2 See Paragraph No. 107. 

3 William Rufus, William the Red : a nickname probably derived from his red 
face. 



THE COMING OF THE NORMANS. 71 

178. Character of William Rufus. — Rufus had his father's 
ability and resolution, but none of his father's conscience. As 
the historian of that time declared, " He feared God but little, 
man not at all." He had Caesar's faith in destiny, and said to a 
boatman who hesitated to set off with him in a storm at his com- 
mand, " Did you ever hear of a king's being drowned? " 

179. His Struggle with the Barons. — During the greater part 
of the thirteen years of his reign he was at war with his barons. 
It was a battle of centralization against disintegration. " Let 
every man," said he, " who would not be branded infamous and 
a coward, whether he live in town or country, leave everything 
and come to me." 

In answer to that appeal, the English rallied around their Nor- 
man sovereign, and gained the day for him under the walls of 
Rochester Castle, Kent. Of the two evils, the tyranny of one or 
the tyranny of many, the first seemed to them preferable. 

180. William's Method of raising Money; he defrauds the 
Church. — If in some respects William the Conqueror had been 
a harsh ruler, his son was worse. His brother Robert had mort- 
gaged Normandy to him in order to get money to join the first 
crusade. 1 The king raised it by the most oppressive and unscru- 
pulous means. 

William's most trusted counsellor was Ranulf Flambard. 2 Flam- 
bard had brains without principle i' He devised a system of plun- 
dering both church and people in the king's interest. Lanfranc, 
Archbishop of Canterbury, died three years after William's acces- 
sion. Through Flambard's advice, the king left the archbishopric 



1 Crusade (Latin crux, the cross) : the crusades were a series of eight military 
expeditions undertaken by the Christian powers of Europe to recover Jerusalem 
and the Holy Land from the hands of the Mohammedans. They received their 
name from the badge of the cross worn by the soldiers. The first crusade was 
undertaken in 1095, and the last in 1270. Their effects will be fully considered 
under Richard I., who took part in them. 

2 Flambard : a nickname ; the torch, or firebrand. 



J2 LEADING FACTS OF ENGLISH HISTORY. 

vacant, and appropriated its revenues to himself. He practised 
the same course with respect to every office of the church. 

181. The King makes Anselm Archbishop. — While this pro- 
cess of systematized robbery was going on, the king fell suddenly ill. 
In his alarm lest death was at hand, he determined to make repara- 
tion to the defrauded and insulted priesthood. He invited Ansehn, 
a noted French scholar, to accept the archbishopric. Anselm, who 
was old and feeble, declined, saying that he and the king could 
not work together. " It would be," said he, "like yoking a sheep 
and a bull." But the king would take no refusal. Calling Anselm 
to his bedside, he forced the staff of office into his hands. When 
the king recovered, he resumed his old practices and treated 
Anselm with such insult, that he finally left the country. 

182. "William's Merit. — William's one merit was that he kept 
England from being devoured piecemeal by the Norman barons, 
who regarded her, as a pack of hounds, in full chase, regard the 
hare about falling into their rapacious jaws. Like his father, he 
insisted on keeping the English church independent of the ever- 
growing power of Rome. In both cases his motives were purely 
selfish, but the result to the country was good. 

183. His Death. — In noo his power came suddenly to an 
end. He had gone in the morning to hunt in the New Forest 
with his brother Henry. He was found lying dead among the 
bushes, pierced by an arrow shot by an unknown hand. William's 
character speaks in his deeds. It was hard, cold, despotic, yet in 
judging it we should consider the words of Fuller, " No pen hath 
originally written the life of this king but what was made with a 
monkish pen-knife, and no wonder if his picture seem bad, which 
was thus drawn by his enemy." 

184. Summary. — Notwithstanding William's oppression of both 
church and people, his reign checked the revolt of the baronage 
and prevented the kingdom from falling into anarchy like that 
existing on the continent. 



THE COMING OF THE NORMANS. 73 

HENRY I- — 1100— 1135. 

185. Henry's Charter. — Henry, third son of William the Con- 
queror, was the first of the Norman kings who was born and edu- 
cated in England. Foreseeing a renewal of the contest with the 
barons, he issued a charter 1 of liberties on his accession, by which 
he bound himself to reform the abuses which had been practised 
by his brother William Rufus. The king sent a hundred copies 
of this important document to the leading abbots and bishops for 
preservation in their respective monasteries and cathedrals. As 
this charter was the earliest written and formal guarantee of good 
government ever given by the crown to the nation, it marks an 
important epoch in English history. It may be compared to the 
platforms or statements of principles issued by our modern politi- 
cal parties. It was a virtual admission that the time had come 
when even a Norman sovereign could not dispense with the sup- 
port of the country. It was therefore an admission of the truth 
that while a people can exist without a king, no king can exist 
without a people. Furthermore, this charter established a prece- 
dent for those which were to follow, and which reached a final 
development in the Great Charter wrested from the unwilling hand 
of King John somewhat more than a century later. Henry fur- 
ther strengthened his position with his English subjects by his 
marriage with Maud, niece of the Saxon Edgar, a direct de- 
scendant of King Alfred. 

186. The Appointment of Bishops settled. — Henry also re- 
called Anselm and reinstated him in his office. But the peace 
was of short duration. The archbishop insisted with the Pope 
that the power of appointment of bishops should be vested wholly 

1 Charter (literally, parchment or paper on which anything may be written) : a 
royal charter is a writing bearing the king's seal by which he confers or secures 
certain rights and privileges to those to whom it is granted. Henry's charter 
guaranteed: I. The rights of the church (which William Rufus had constantly vio- 
lated). 2. The rights of the nobles and landholders against extortion. 3. The 
right of all classes to be governed by the old English law with William the Con- 
queror's improvements. 



74 LEADING FACTS OP' ENGLISH HISTORY. 

in Rome. The king was equally determined that such appoint- 
ments should spring from himself. "No one," said he, "shall 
remain in my land who will not do me homage." The quarrel 
was eventually settled by compromise. The Pope was to invest 
the bishop with the ring and crozier, or pastoral staff of office, as 
emblems of the spiritual power ; the king, on the other hand, was 
to grant the lands from which the bishop drew his revenues, and 
in return was to receive his homage or oath of allegiance. This 
acknowledgment of royal authority by the church was of great 
importance, since it gave the king power as feudal lord to demand 
from each bishop his quota of fully equipped knights or cavalry 
soldiers. 1 

187. Henry's Quarrel with Robert. — While this church ques- 
tion was in dispute, Henry had still more pressing matters to 
attend to. His elder brother Robert had invaded England and 
demanded the crown. The greater part of the Norman nobles 
supported this claim ; but the English people held to Henry. 
Finally, in consideration of a heavy money payment, Robert 
agreed to return to Normandy and leave his brother in full posses- 
sion of the realm. On his departure, Henry resolved to drive out 
the prominent nobles who had aided Robert. Of these, Robert of 
Belesme, Earl of Shrewsbury, was the leader. With the aid of 
the English, who hated him for his cruelty, the earl was at last 
compelled to leave the country. He fled to Normandy, and, in 
violation of a previous agreement, was received by Henry's brother 
Robert. Upon that, Henry declared war, and, crossing the Chan- 
nel, fought the battle of Tinchebrai, 2 by which he conquered and 
held Normandy as completely as Normandy had once conquered 
England. The king carried his brother captive to Wales, and 
kept him in prison during his life in Cardiff Castle. This ended 
the contest with the nobles. By his uprightness, his decision, his 

1 See note on Clergy, Paragraph No. 200. 

2 Tinchebrai, Normandy, about midway between Caen and Avranches. See 
Map No. 8, page 88. 



THE COMING OF THE NORMANS. 75 

courage, Henry fairly won the honorable title of the " Lion of 
Justice " ; for, as the Chronicle records, " No man durst mis-do 
against another in his time." 

188. Summary. — The three leading points of Henry's reign 
are : i. The self-limitation of the royal power embodied in the 
charter of liberties. 2. The settlement of old disputes between 
the king and the church. 3. The banishment of the chief of the 
mutinous barons, and the victory of Tinchebrai, with its results. 

STEPH EN. — 1 135-1 154. 

189. The Rival Candidates. — With Henry's death two candi- 
dates presented themselves for the throne, — Henry's daughter, 
Matilda (for he* left no lawful son) , and his nephew, Stephen. In 
France, the custom of centuries had determined that the crown 
should never descend to a female ; and in an age when the sover- 
eign was expected to lead his army in person, it certainly was not 
expedient that a woman should hold a position one of whose chief 
duties she could not discharge. This French custom had, of 
course, no force in England ; but the Norman nobles must have 
recognized its reasonableness ; or if not, the people did. 1 Four 
years after Stephen's accession Matilda landed in England and 
claimed the crown. The East of England stood by Stephen, the 
West by Matilda. For the sake of promoting discord, and through 
discord their own private ends, part of the barons gave their sup- 
port to Matilda, while the rest refused, as they said, to "hold 
their estates under a distaff." The fatal defect in the new king 
was the absence of executive ability. Following the example of 
Henry, he issued two charters or pledges of good government ; 

1 Before Henry's death, the baronage had generally sworn to support Matilda 
(commonly called the Empress Matilda, or Maud, from her marriage to the 
Emperor Henry V. of Germany, later, she married Geoffrey of Anjou). But 
Stephen, with the help of London and the church, declared himself" elected king 
by the assent of the clergy and the people'' Many of the barons now gave Stephen 
their support. 



y6 LEADING FACTS OF ENGLISH HISTORY. 

but without authority to carry them out, they proved simply waste 
paper. 

190. The Battle of the Standard. — David I. of Scotland, 
Matilda's uncle, espoused her cause, and invaded England with a 
powerful force. He was met at North Allerton, in Yorkshire, by 
the party of Stephen, and the battle of the Standard was fought. 
The leaders of the English were both churchmen, who showed 
that on occasion they could fight as vigorously as they could 
pray. The standard consisted of four consecrated banners, sur- 
mounted by a cross. This was set up on a wagon, on which one 
of the bishops stood. The sight of this sacred standard made the 
English invincible. After a fierce contest, the Scots were driven 
from the field. It is said that this was the first battle in which 
the English peasants used the long-bow ; they 'had taken the 
hint, perhaps, from the Normans at the battle of Hastings. Some 
years later, their skill in foreign war made that weapon as famous 
as it was effective. 

191 . Civil War. — For fifteen years following, the country was 
torn by civil war. While it raged, fortified castles, which, under 
William the Conqueror, had been built and occupied by the king 
only, or by those whom he could trust, now arose on every 
side. These became, as the Anglo-Saxon Chronicle declares, 
"very nests of devils and dens of thieves." More than a thou- 
sand of these castles, it is said, were built. The armed bands who 
inhabited them levied tribute on the whole country around. Not 
satisfied with that, they seized those who were suspected of having 
property, and, to use the words of the Chronicle again, " tortured 
them with pains unspeakable ; for some they hung up by the feet 
and smoked with foul smoke; others they crushed in a narrow 
chest with sharp stones. About the heads of others they bound 
knotted cords until they went into the brain." " Thousands died 
of hunger, the towns were burned, and the soil left untilled. By 
such deeds the land was ruined ; and men said openly that Christ 
and his saints were asleep." The sleep, however, was not always 



THE COMING OF THE NORMANS. TJ 

to last ; for in the next reign, Justice, in the person of Henry II., 
effectually vindicated her power. The strife for the crown con- 
tinued till the last year of Stephen's reign, when, by the Treaty of 
Wallingford, 1 it was agreed that Matilda's son Henry should suc- 
ceed him. 

192. Summary. — Stephen was the last of the Norman kings. 
Their reign had covered nearly a century. The period began in 
conquest and usurpation ; it ended in gloom. We are not, how- 
ever, to judge it by Stephen's reign alone, but as a whole. Thus 
considered, it shows many points of advance over the preceding 
period. Finally, even Stephen's reign was not all loss since we 
find that out of -the "war, wickedness, and waste" of his 
misgovernment came a universal desire for peace through law. 
Thus indirectly, his very inefficiency prepared the way for future 
reforms. 



GENERAL VIEW OF THE NORMAN PERIOD.— 1066-1 154. 

I. GOVERNMENT. — II. RELIGION. — III. MILITARY AFFAIRS. — IV. 
LITERATURE, LEARNING, AND ART. — V. GENERAL INDUSTRY AND 
COMMERCE. — VI. MODE OF LIFE, MANNERS, AND CUSTOMS. 

GOVERNMENT. 

193. The King. — We have seen that the Saxons, or Early English 
rulers, in the case of Egbert and his successors, styled themselves 
"Kings of the English," or leaders of a race or people. The 
Norman sovereigns made no immediate change in this title, but as 
a matter of fact, William, toward the close of his reign, claimed the 
whole of the country as his own by right of conquest. For this reason 
he and his Norman successors might properly have called themselves 
"Kings of England"; that is, supreme owners of the soil and rulers 
over it, a title which was formally assumed about fifty years later (in 
John's reign). 

194. The National Council. — Associated with the king in gov- 
ernment, was the Great or National Council, made up of, first, the arch- 

1 Wallingford, Berkshire. 



y8 LEADING FACTS OF ENGLISH HISTORY. 

bishops, bishops, and abbots ; and second, the earls and barons ; that 
is, of all the great landholders holding directly from the crown. The 
National Council usually met three times a year, — at Christmas, Easter, 
and Whitsuntide. All laws were held to be made by the king, acting 
with the advice and consent of this council, but practically, the king 
alone often enacted such laws as he saw fit. When a new sovereign 
came to the throne, it was with the consent or by the election of the 
National Council, but their choice was generally limited to some one of 
the late king's sons, and unless there was good reason for making a dif- 
ferent selection, the oldest was chosen. Finally, the right of imposing 
taxes rested theoretically, at least, in the king and Council, but, in fact, 
the king himself frequently levied them. This action of the king was 
a cause of constant irritation and of frequent insurrection. 

195. The Private or King's Council. — There was also a second 
and permanent council, called the King's Council. The three leading 
officers of this were, the Chief Justice, who superintended the execution 
of the laws, represented the king, and ruled for him during his ab- 
sence from the country. Second, the Lord Chancellor (so called from 
cancelli, the screen behind which he sat with his clerks), who acted as 
the king's adviser and confidential secretary, and as keeper of the Great 
Seal, with which he stamped all important papers. 1 Third, the Lord 
High Treasurer, who took charge of the king's revenue, received all 
moneys due the crown, and kept the king's treasure in the vaults at 
Winchester or Westminster. 

196. Tallies. — All accounts were kept by the Treasurer on tallies 
or small sticks, notched on the opposite sides to represent different sums. 
These were split lengthwise. One was given as a receipt to the sheriff, 
or other person paying in money to the treasury, while the duplicate of 
this tally was held by the Treasurer. This primitive method of keep- 
ing royal accounts remained legally in force until 1785, in the reign of 
George III. 

197. Curia Regis, 2 or the King's Court of Justice. — The Chief 



1 The Chancellor was also called the " Keeper of the King's Conscience," be- 
cause intrusted with the duty of redressing those grievances of the king's subjects 
which required royal interference. The Court of Chancery, mentioned in note I, to 
Paragraph No. 197, g-ew out of this office. 

2 Curia Regis : this name was given, at different times, first, to the National 
Council; second, to the King's Private Council; and lastly, to the High Court of 
Justice, consisting of members of the Private Council. 



THE COMING OF THE. NORMANS. 79 

Justice and Chancellor were generally chosen by the king from among 
the clergy ; first, because the clergy were men of education, while the 
barons were not ; and next, because it was not expedient to intrust too 
much power to the barons. These officials, with the other members 
of the Private Council, constituted the King's High Court of Justice. 
It followed the king as he moved from place to place, to hear and decide 
cases carried up by appeal from the county courts, together with other 
questions of importance. 1 In local government, the country remained 
under the Normans essentially the same that it had been before the 
conquest. The king continued to be represented in each county by an 
officer called the sheriff, who collected the taxes and enforced the laws. 

198. Trial by Battle. — In the administration of justice, Trial by 
Battle was introduced in addition to the Ordeal of the Saxons. This 
was a duel in which each of the contestants appealed to Heaven to give 
him the victory v it being believed that the right would vanquish. 
Noblemen 2 fought on horseback in full armor, with sword, lance, and 
battle-axe ; common people fought on foot with clubs. In both cases 
the combat was in the presence of judges and might last from sunrise 
until the stars appeared. Priests and women had the privilege of being 
represented by champions, who fought for them. Trial by battle was 
claimed and allowed by the court (though the combat did not come off) 
as late as 181 7, reign of George III. This custom was finally abolished 
in 1819. 3 

199. Divisions of Society. — The divisions of society remained 
after the conquest nearly as before, but the Saxon orders of nobility, 

1 The King's High Court of Justice (Curia Regis) was divided about 1215 into 
three distinct courts. 1. The Exchequer Court (so called from the chequered 
cloth which covered the table of the court, and which was probably made useful in 
counting money), which dealt with cases of finance and revenue. 2. The Court of 
Common Pleas, which had jurisdiction in civil suits between subject and subject. 
3. The Court of King's Bench, which transacted the remaining business, both civil 
and criminal, and had special jurisdiction over all inferior courts and civil cor- 
porations. 

Later, a fourth court, that of Chancery (see Paragraph No. 195, and note), over 
which the Lord Chancellor presided, was established as a court of appeal and 
equity, to deal with cases where the common law gave no reliet. 

2 See Shakespeare's Richard II., Act I. scenes 1 and 3; also Scott's Ivanhoe, 
Chapter XLIII. 

3 Trial by battle might be demanded in cases of chivalry or honor, in criminal 
actions and in civil suits. The last were fought not by the disputants themselves 
but by champions. 



80 LEADING FACTS OF ENGLISH HISTORY. 

with a few very rare exceptions, were deprived of their rank, and their 
estates were given to the Normans. 

It is important to notice here the marked difference between the new 
or Norman nobility and that of France. 

In England, a man was considered noble because, under William 
and his successors, he was a member of the National Council, or, in the 
case of an earl, because he represented the king in the government of 
a county or earldom. 

His position did not exempt him from taxation, nor did his rank 
descend to more than one of his children. In France, on the contrary, 
the aristocracy were noble by birth, not office ; they were generally ex- 
empt from taxation, thus throwing the whole of that burden on the 
people, and their rank descended to all their children. 

During the Norman period a change was going on among the slaves, 
whose condition gradually improved. On the other hand many who 
had been free now sank into that state of villeinage which, as it bound 
them to the soil, was but one remove from actual slavery. 

The small, free landholders who still existed were mostly in the old 
Danish territory north of Watling-street, or in Kent in the South. 

200. Tenure of Land (Military Service, Feudal Dues, Na- 
tional Militia). — All land was held directly or indirectly from the 
king on condition of military or other service. The number of chief- 
tenants who derived their title from the crown, including ecclesiastical 
dignitaries, was probably about 1500. These constituted the Norman 
barons. The under-tenants were about 8000, and consisted chiefly of 
the English who had been driven out from their estates. Every holder 
of land was obliged to furnish the king a fully armed and mounted 
soldier, to serve for forty days during the year for each piece of land 
bringing ^20 annually, or about $2000 in modern money J (the pound 
of that day probably representing twenty times that sum now). All 
chief-tenants were also bound to attend the king's Great Council three 
times a year, — at Christmas, Easter, and Whitsuntide. 

Feudal Dues or Taxes. Every free tenant was obliged to pay a 
sum of money to the king or baron from whom he held his land, on 
three special occasions. 1. To ransom his lord from captivity in case 
he was made a prisoner of war. 2. To defray the expense of making 

1 This amount does not appear to have been fully settled until the period follow- 
ing the Norman kings, but the principle was recognized by William. 



WASTE OR 
UNTILLED LAN D 



COMMON 
PASTU RE 



COMMON FIELD! 



A'S STRIP 



B'S STRIP 



A'S STRIP 



C'S STRIP 



B'S STRIP 




A MANOR OR TOWNSHIP HELD BY A LORD, NORMAN PERIOD. 



The inhabitants of a manor, or the estate of a lord, were : i. The lord him- 
self, or his representative, who held his estate on condition of furnishing the king 
a certain number of armed men. (See Paragraphs 160 and 200.) 2. The lord's 
personal followers, who lived with him, and usually a parish priest or a number of 
monks. 3. The villeins, bound to the soil, who could not leave the manor, were 
not subject to military duty, and who paid rent in labor or produce ; there might 
also be a few slaves, but this last class gradually rose to the partial freedom of 
villeinage. 4. Certain soke-men or free tenants, who were subject to military duty, 
but were npt bound to remain on the manor, and who paid a fixed rent in money, 
or otherwise. 

Next to the manor-house (where courts were also held) the most important 
buildings were the church (used sometimes for markets and town meetings) ; the 
lord's mill (if there was a stream), in which all tenants must grind their grain and 
pay for the grinding; and finally, the cottages of the tenants, gathered in a village 
near the mill. 

The land was divided as follows : 1. The demesne (or domain) surrounding 
the manor-house. This was strictly private — the lord's ground. 2. The land out- 
80a 



side the demesne, suitable for cultivation. This was let in strips, usually of thirty 
acres, but was subject to certain rules in regard to methods of tillage and crops. 
3. A piece of land which was divided into fenced fields, called closes (because 
enclosed), and which tenants might hire and use as they saw fit. 4. Common 
pasture, open to all tenants to pasture their cattle on. 5. Waste or untilled land, 
where all tenants had the right to cut turf for fuel, or gather plants or shrubs for 
fodder. 6. The forest or woodland, where all tenants had the right to turn their 
hogs out to feed on acorns, and where they might also collect a certain amount 
of small wood for fuel. 7. Meadow-land on which tenants might hire the right 
to cut grass and make hay. On the above plan the fields of tenants — both those 
of villeins and of soke-men — are marked by the letters A, B, C, etc. 

If the village grew to be a thriving manufacturing or trading town, the tenants 
might, in time, purchase from the lord the right to manage their own affairs in 
great measure, and so become a free town in a considerable degree. (See Para- 
graph 234.) 

8o£ 



THE COMING OF THE NORMANS. ' 8 1 

his lord's eldest son a knight. 3. To provide a suitable marriage por- 
tion on the marriage of his lord's eldest daughter. 

In addition to these taxes, or " aids," as they were called, there were 
other demands which the lord might make, such as, 1. A year's profits 
of the land from the heir, on his coming into possession of his father's 
estate. 1 2. The income from the lands of orphan heirs not of age. 
3. Payment for privilege of disposing of land. 2 

In case of an orphan heiress not of age, the feudal lord became her 
guardian and might select a suitable husband for her. Should the heir- 
ess reject the person selected, she forfeited a sum of money equal to the 
amount the lord expected to receive by the proposed marriage. Thus 
we find one woman in Ipswich giving a large fee for the privilege of 
" not being married-except to her own good liking." In the collection 
of these " aids" and "reliefs" great extortion was often practised both 
by the king and the barons. 

In addition to the feudal troops there was a national militia, consist- 
ing of peasants and others not provided with armor, who fought on 
foot with bows and spears. These could also be called on as during 
the Saxon period. In some cases of revolt of the barons, for instance, 
under William Rufus, this national militia proved of immense service to 
the crown. The great landholders let out part of their estates to tenants 
on similar terms to those on which they held their own, and in this way 
the entire country was divided up. The lowest class of tenants were vil- 
leins or serfs, who held small pieces of land on condition of performing 
labor for it. These were bound to the soil and could be sold with it, 
but were not wholly destitute of legal rights. Under William I. and 
his successors, all free tenants, of whatever grade, were bound to up- 
hold the king, and in case of insurrection or civil war to serve under 
him. In this most important respect, the great landholders of England 
differed from those of the continent, where the lesser tenants were bound 
only to serve their masters, and might, and in fact often did, take up 
arms against the king. William removed this serious defect. By do- 



1 Technically called a relief. 

2 The clergy being a corporate, and hence an ever-living body, were exempt from 
these last demands. Not satisfied with this, they were constantly endeavoring, with 
more or less success, to escape all feudal obligations, on the ground that they ren- 
dered the state divine service. In 1106, reign of Henry I., it was settled, for the 
time, that the bishops were to do homage to the king, i.e., furnish military service, 
for the lands they received from him as their feudal lord. See Paragraph No. 186. 



2>2 LEADING FACTS OF ENGLISH HISTORY. 

ing so he did the country an incalculable service. He completed the 
organization of feudal land-tenure, but he never established the conti- 
nental system of feudal government. 

RELIGION. 

201. The Church. — With respect to the organization of the church, 
no changes were made under the Norman kings. They, however, 
generally deposed the English bishops and substituted Normans or 
foreigners, who, as a class, were superior in education to the English. 
It came to be pretty clearly understood at this time that the church 
was subordinate to the king, and that in all cases of dispute about tem- 
poral matters, he, and not the Pope, was to decide. During the Norman 
period great numbers of monasteries were built. The most important 
action taken by William was the establishment of ecclesiastical courts in 
which all cases relating to the church and the clergy were tried by the 
bishops according to laws of their own. Under these laws persons 
wearing the dress of a monk or priest, or who could manage to spell 
out a verse of the Psalms, and so pass for ecclesiastics, would claim the 
right to be tried, and, as the punishments which the church inflicted were 
notoriously mild, the consequence was that the majority of criminals 
escaped the penalty of their evil doings. So great was the abuse of 
this privilege, that, at a later period, Henry II. made an attempt to 
reform it ; but it was not finally done away with until the beginning of 
the present century. 

MILITARY AFFAIRS. 

202. The Army. — The army consisted of cavalry, or knights, and 
foot-soldiers. The former were almost wholly Normans. They wore 
armor similar to that used by the Saxons. It is represented in the 
pictures of the Bayeux Tapestry (see 205), and appears to have con- 
sisted of leather or stout linen, on which pieces of bone or scales or 
rings of iron were securely sewed. Later, these rings of iron were set 
up edgewise, and interlinked, or the scales made to overlap. The 
helmet was pointed, and had a piece in front to protect the nose. The 
shield was long and kite-shaped. The weapons of this class of soldiers 
consisted of a lance and a double-edged sword. The foot-soldiers wore 
little or no armor and fought principally with long-bows. In case of 
need, the king could probably muster about 10,000 knights, or armed 



THE COMING OF THE NORMANS. 83 

Horsemen, and a much larger force of foot-soldiers. Under the Norman 
kings the principal wars were insurrections against William I., the 
various revolts of the barons, and the civil war under Stephen. 

203. Knighthood. 1 — Candidates for knighthood were usually obliged 
to pass through a long course of training under the care of some dis- 
tinguished noble. The candidate served first as a page, then as a 
squire or attendant, following his master to the wars. After seven 
years in this capacity, he prepared himself for receiving the honors of 
knighthood by spending several days in a church, engaged in solemn 
religious rites, fasting, and prayer. The young man, in the presence of 
his friends and kindred, then made oath to be loyal to the king, to 
defend religion, and to be the champion of every lady in danger or 
distress. Next, a high-born dame or great warrior buckled on his spurs, 
and girded the sword, which the priest had blessed, to his side. This 
done, he knelt to the prince or noble who was to perform the final 
ceremony. The prince struck him lightly on the shoulder with the 
flat of the sword, saying, " In the name of God, St. Michael, 2 and St. 
George [the patron saint of England], I dub thee knight. Be brave, 
hardy, and loyal. 1 ' Then the young cavalier leaped into the saddle and 
galloped up and down, brandishing his weapons in token of strength 
and skill. In case a knight proved false to his oaths, he was publicly 
degraded. His spurs were taken from him, his shield reversed, his 
armor broken to pieces, and a sermon preached upon him in the neigh- 
boring church, proclaiming him dead to the order. 

LITERATURE, LEARNING, AND ART. 

204. Education. — The learning of this period was confined almost 
wholly to the clergy. Whatever schools existed were connected with 
the monasteries and nunneries. Very few books were written. Gen- 
erally speaking, the nobility considered fighting the great business of 

1 Knighthood : Originally the knight (cniht) was a youth or attendant. Later 
the word came to mean an armed horse-soldier or cavalier who had received his 
weapons and title in a solemn manner. Those whom the English called knights 
the Normans called chevaliers (literally, horsemen), and as only the wealthy and 
noble could, as a rule, afford the expense of a horse and armor, chivalry or knight- 
hood came in time to be closely connected with the idea of aristocracy. Besides 
the method described above, soldiers were sometimes made knights on the battle- 
field as a reward for valor. 

2 St. Michael, as representative of the triumphant power of good over evil. 



84 LEADING FACTS OF ENGLISH HISTORY. 

life and cared nothing for education. To read or write was beneath 
their dignity. Such accomplishments they left to monks, priests, and 
lawyers. For this reason seals or stamps having some device or sig- 
nature engraved on them came to be used on all papers of importance. 

205. Historical "Works. — The chief books written in England, 
under the Norman kings, were histories. Of these, the most note- 
worthy were the continuation of the Anglo-Saxon Chronicle in English 
and the chronicles of William of Malmesbury and Henry of Huntingdon 
in Latin. 1 William's book and the Saxon Chronicle still continue to 
be of great importance to students of this period. Mention has al- 
ready been made of the Bayeux Tapestry, a history of the Norman 
Conquest worked in colored worsteds, on a long strip of narrow canvas. 
It consists of a series of seventy-two scenes, or pictures, done about 
the time of William's accession. Some have supposed it to be the 
work of his queen, Matilda. The entire length is two hundred and 
fourteen feet and the width about twenty inches. It represents events 
in English history from the last of Edward the Confessor's reign to 
the battle of Hastings. As a guide to a knowledge of the armor, 
weapons, and costume of the period, it is of very great value. 

206. Architecture. — Under the Norman sovereigns there was 
neither painting, statuary, nor poetry worthy of mention. The spirit 
that creates these arts found expression in architecture introduced from 
the continent. The castle, cathedral, and minster, with here and there 
an exceptional structure like London Bridge and the Great Hall at West- 
minster, built by William Rufus, were the buildings which mark the 
time. Aside from Westminster Abbey, which, although the work of 
Edward the Confessor, was really Norman, a fortress or two, like Conings- 
borough in Yorkshire, and a few churches, the Saxons erected nothing 
worthy of note. On the continent, stone had already come into general 
use for churches and fortresses. William was no sooner firmly estab- 
lished on his throne than he began to employ it for similar purposes in 
England. The characteristic of the Norman style of architecture was 
its massive grandeur. The churches were built in the form of a 
cross, with a square, central tower, the main entrance being at the 

1 Among the historical works of this period may be included Geoffrey of Mon- 
mouth's History of the Britons, in Latin, a book whose chief value is in the curious 
romances with which it abounds, especially those relating to King Arthur. It is 
the basis of Tennyson's Idylls of the King. 



THE COMING OF THE NORMANS. , 85 

west. The interior was divided into a nave, or central portion, with an 
aisle on each side for the passage of religious processions. The 
windows were narrow, and rounded at the top. The robf rested on 
round arches supported by heavy columns. The cathedrals of Peter- 
borough, Ely, Durham, Norwich, the church of St. Bartholomew, Lon- 
don, and St. John's Chapel in the Tower of London are fine examples of 
Norman work. The castles consisted of a square keep, or citadel, with 
walls of immense thickness having a few slit-like windows in the lower 
story and somewhat larger ones above. In these everything was made 
subordinate to strength and security. They were surrounded by a high 
stone wall and deep ditch, generally filled with water. The entrance 
to them was over a draw-bridge through an archway protected by an 
iron grating, or portcullis, which could be raised and lowered at pleasure. 
The Tower of London, Rochester Castle, Carisbrook Keep, New 
Castle on the Tyne, and Tintagel Hold were built by William or his 
Norman successors. 'Although, with the exception of the first, all are in 
ruins, yet these ruins bid fair to stand as long as the pyramids. They 
were mostly the work of churchmen, who were the best architects of 
the day, and knew how to plan a fortress as well as to build a minster. 



GENERAL INDUSTRY AND COMMERCE. 

207. Trade. — No very marked change took place in respect to agri- 
culture or trade during the Norman period. The Jews who came in 
with the Conqueror got the control of much of the trade, and were 
the only capitalists of the time. They were protected by the kings in 
money-lending at exorbitant rates of interest. In turn, the kings 
extorted immense sums from them. The guilds, or associations for 
mutual protection among merchants, now became prominent, and came 
eventually to have great political influence. 



MODE OF LIFE, MANNERS, AND CUSTOMS. 

208. Dress. — The Normans were more temperate and refined in 
their mode of living than the Saxons. In dress they made great dis- 
play. In Henry Vs reign it became the custom for the nobility to wear 
their hair very long, so that their curls resembled those of women. 
The clergy thundered against this effeminate fashion, but with no effect. 
At last, a priest preaching before the king on Easter Sunday, ended his 



86 LEADING FACTS OF ENGLISH HISTORY. 

sermon by taking out a pair of shears and cropping the entire congrega- 
tion, king and all. 

By the regulation called the curfew, 1 a bell rang at sunset in summer 
and eight in winter, which was the government signal for putting out 
lights and covering up fires. This law, which was especially hated by 
the English, as a Norman innovation and act of tyranny, was a neces- 
sary precaution against fire, at a time when London and other cities 
were masses of wooden hovels. 

Surnames came in with the Normans. Previous to the conquest, 
Englishmen had but one name ; and when, for convenience, another 
was needed, they were called by their occupation or from some per- 
sonal peculiarity, as Edward the Carpenter, Harold the Dauntless. 
Among the Normans the lack of a second, or family name, had come 
to be looked upon as a sign of low birth, and the daughter of a great 
Lord (Fitz-Haman) refused to marry a nobleman who had but one, 
saying, " My father and my grandfather had each two names, and it 
were a great shame to me to take a husband who has less." 

The principal amusements were hunting and hawking (catching small 
game with trained hawks). 

The church introduced theatrical plays, written and acted by the 
monks. These represented scenes in Scripture history, and, later, the 
career of the Vices and the Virtues personified. 

Tournaments, or mock combats between knights, were not encouraged 
by William I. or his immediate successors, but became common in the 
period following the Norman kings. 

1 Curfew : couvre-feu, cover-fire. 



THE ANGEVINS, OR PLANTAGENETS. 87 



VI. 

" Man bears within him certain ideas of order, of justice, of reason, with 
constant desire to bring them into play . . . ; for this he labors unceasingly." - 
Guizot, History of Civilization. 



THE ANGEVINS, OR PLANTAGENETS, 1 154-1399. 

-THE BARONS versus THE CROWN. 

Consolidation of Norman and Saxon Interests. — Rise of the New 
English Nation. 

Henry fl., 1 154-1 189. Edward !, 1272-1307.1 

Richard I., 1 189-1 199. Edward II., 1307-1327. 

John, 1 199-1216. Edward III., 1327-1377 

Henry III, 1216-1272. Richard II, 1377-1399. 

209. Accession and Dominions of Henry II. — Henry was just 
of age when the death of Stephen called him to the throne. 

From his father, Count Geoffrey of Anjou, came the title of 
Angevin. The name Plantagenet, by which the family was also 
known, was derived from the count's habit of wearing a sprig of 
the golden-blossomed broom-plant, or Plante-gen6t, as the French 
called it, in his helmet. 

Henry received from his father the dukedoms of Anjou and 
Maine, from his mother, Normandy and the dependent province 
of Brittany, while through his marriage with Eleanor, the divorced 
queen of France, he acquired the great southern dukedom of 
Aquitaine. 

Thus on his accession he became ruler over England and more 
than half of France, his realms extending from the borders of 
Scotland to the base of the Pyrenees. 2 To these extensive posses- 

1 Not crowned until 1274. 2 See Maps Nos. 8 and 9, pages 88 and 130. 



88 LEADING FACTS OF ENGLISH HISTORY. 

sions Henry added the eastern half of Ireland, 1 which was but 
partially conquered and never justly ruled, so that the English 
power there has remained ever since like a spear-point embedded 
in a living body, inflaming all around it. 2 

210. Henry's Charter and Reforms. — On his mother's side 
Henry was a descendant of Alfred the Great ; for this reason he was 
hailed with enthusiasm by the native English. He at once began a 
system of reforms worthy of his illustrious ancestor. His first act 
was to issue a charter confirming the promises of good govern- 
ment made (by) his grandfather, Henry I. His next was ^o) begin 
levelling to the ground the castles illegally built in Stephen's reign, 
which had caused such widespread misery , x to the country. 3 He 
continued the work of demolition until it is said he had destroyed 
no less than eleven hundred of these strongholds of oppression. 
Having accomplished this work, the king turned his attention toj 
the coinage. During the civil war the barons had issued money 
debased in quality and deficient in weight. Henry abolished this 
currency and issued in its place silver pieces of full weight and 
value. 

4 . , i — 

nJ 1 Ireland : the population of Ireland at this time consisted mainly of descend- 
ants of the Celtic and other prehistoric races which inhabited Britain at the period 
of the Roman invasion. When the Saxons conquered Britain, many of the natives, 
who were of the same stock and spoke essentially the same language as the 
Irish, fled to that country. Later, the Danes formed settlements on the coast, espe- 
cially in the vicinity of Dublin. The conquest of England by the Normans was 
practically a victory gained by one branch of a German race over another (Saxons 
and Normans having originally sprung from the same stock), and the two soon 
mingled ; but the partial conquest of Ireland by the Normans was a radically dif- 
ferent thing. They and the Irish had really nothing in common. The latter 
refused to accept the feudal system, and continued split up into savage tribes or 
clans under the rule of petty chiefs always at war with each other. Thus for 
centuries after England had established a settled government Ireland remained, 
partly through the battles of the clans, and partly through the aggressions of a hos» 
tile race, in a state of anarchic confusion which prevented all true national growth. 

2 Lecky's England. 

8 Under William the Conqueror and his immediate successors no one was 
allowed to erect a castle without a royal license. During Stephen's time the great 
barons constantly violated this salutary regulation. 



No. 8. 



THE DOMINIONS OF _56 
THE 

ANGEVINS 

OR 

Jfy* PLANTAGENETS 

. ^.^..f.Stirliug:-/^?./} rth 




To face page 



THE ANGEVINS, OR PLANTAGENETSi 89 

211. War with France; Scutage. — Having completed these 
reforms, the king turned his attention to his continental possessions. 
Through his wife, Henry claimed the county of Toulouse in South- 
ern France. To enforce this claim he declared war. Henry's 
barons, however, refused to furnish troops to fight outside of Eng- 
land. The king wisely compromised the matter by offering to 
accept from each knight a sum of money in lieu of service, called 
scutage, or shield-money. 1 The proposal was agreed to, and means 
were thus furnished to hire soldiers for foreign wars. 

Later in his reign Henry supplemented this tax by the passage 
of a law 2 which revived the national militia and placed it at his 
command for home-service. By these two measures the king 
made himself practically independent of the barons, and thus 
gained a greater degree of power than any previous ruler had 
possessed. 

212. Thomas Becket. 3 — There was, however, one man in 
Henry's kingdom — his chancellor, Thomas Becket — who was 
always ready to serve him. At his own expense he now equipped 
seven hundred knights, and, crossing the Channel, fought valiantly 
for the suppression of the rebellion in Toulouse. 

An old but unfortunately a doubtful story represents Becket as 
the son of an English crusader, Gilbert Becket, who was captured 
in the Holy Land, and who in turn succeeded in captivating the 
heart of an Eastern princess. She helped him to escape to his 
native land, and then followed. The princess knew but two 
words of English, — " Gilbert" and "London." By constantly re- 
peating these, as she wandered from city to city, she at length 

1 Scutage: from the Latin scutum, a shield; the understanding being that he 
who would not take his shield and do battle for the king, should pay enough to 
hire one who would. 

The scutage was assessed at two marks. Later, the assessment varied. The 
mark was two-thirds of a pound of silver by weight, or thirteen shillings and four 
pence ($3.20). Reckoned in modern money, the tax was probably at least twenty 
times two marks, or about $128. The only coin in use in England up to Edward 
I.'s reign, 1272, was the silver penny, of which twelve made a shilling. 

2 The Assize or Law of Arms. 3 Also spelled A Becket and Beket. 



9<D LEADING FACTS OF ENGLISH HISTORY. 

found both, and the long search for her lover ended in a happy 
marriage. 

213. Becket made Archbishop. — Shortly after Becket's return 
from the continent Henry resolved to appoint him archbishop of 
Canterbury. Becket knew that the king purposed beginning cer- 
tain church reforms with which he was not in sympathy, and de- 
clined the office. But Henry would take no denial. At last, 
wearied with his importunity, Becket consented, but warned the 
king that he should uphold the rights of the clergy. He now 
became the head of the church, and was the first Englishman 
called to. that exalted position since the Norman Conquest. With 
his assumption of the sacred office, Becket seemed to wholly 
change his character. He had been a man of the world, fond of 
pomp and pleasure. He now gave up all luxury and show. He 
put on sackcloth, lived on bread and water, and spent his nights 
in prayer, tearing his flesh with a scourge. 

214. The First Quarrel. — The new archbishop's presentiment 
of evil soon proved true. Becket had hardly taken his seat when 
a quarrel broke out between him and the king. In his need for 
money Henry had levied a tax on all lands, whether belonging to 
the barons or churchmen. 

Becket opposed this tax. 1 He was willing, he said, that the 
clergy should contribute, but not that they should be assessed. 

The king declared with an oath that all should pay alike ; the 
archbishop vowed with equal determination that not a single 
penny should be collected from the church. What the result was 
we do not know, but from that time the king and Becket never 
met again as friends. 

215. The Second Quarrel. — Shortly after, a much more serious 
quarrel broke out between the two. Under the law of William 
the Conqueror, the church had the right to try in its own courts 
all offences committed by monks and priests. This privilege had 
led to great abuses. Men whose only claim to sanctity was that 

1 See Paragraph aoo, note on Clergy. 






THE ANGEVINS, OR PLANTAGENETS. 91 



they wore a black gown or had a shaven head claimed the right of 
being judged by the ecclesiastical tribunal. The heaviest sen- 
tence the church could give was imprisonment in a monastery, 
with degradation from the clerical office. Generally, however, 
offenders got off with flogging and fasting. On this account many 
criminals who deserved to be hanged escaped with a slight penalty. 
Such a case now occurred. A priest named Brois had committed 
an unprovoked murder. Henry commanded him to be brought 
before the king's court ; Becket interfered, and ordered the case 
to be tried by the bishop of the diocese. That functionary sen- 
tenced the murderer to lose his place for two years. 

216. The Constitutions of Clarendon (1164) . —The king, now 
thoroughly roused, determined that such flagrant disregard of 
justice should no longer go on. He called a council of his chief 
men at Clarendon, 1 and laid the case before them. He demanded 
that in future the state or civil courts should be supreme, and that 
in every instance their judges should decide whether a criminal 
should be tried by the common law of the land or handed over to 
the church courts. He required furthermore that the clergy 
should be held strictly responsible to the crown, so that in case 
of dispute the final appeal should be to neither the archbishop nor 
the Pope, but to himself. After protracted debate the council 
passed these measures, which, under the name of the Constitutions 
of Clarendon, now became law. 

Becket, though bitterly opposed to this enactment, finally as- 
sented and swore to obey it. Afterward, feeling that he had con- 
ceded too much, he retracted his oath and refused to be bound 
by the Constitutions. The other church dignitaries became 
alarmed at the prospect, and left Becket to settle with the king as 
best he might. Henceforth it was a battle between one man and 
the whole power of the government. 

217. The King enforces the Law ; Becket leaves the Country. 
— Henry at once proceeded to put the Constitutions into execu- 
tion without fear or favor. 

1 Clarendon Park, Wiltshire, near Salisbury. 



92 LEADING FACTS OF ENGLISH HISTORY. 

" Then was seen the mournful spectacle/' says a champion of 
the church of that day, " of priests and deacons who had com- 
mitted murder, manslaughter, robbery, theft, and other crimes, 
carried in carts before the commissioners and punished as though 
they were ordinary men." * 

Not satisfied with these summary procedures, the king, who 
seems now to have resolved to either ruin Becket or drive him 
from the kingdom, summoned the archbishop before a royal coun- 
cil at Northampton. The charges brought against him appear to 
have had little, if any, foundation. Becket, though he answered the 
summons, refused to acknowledge the jurisdiction of the council, 
and appealed to the Pope. "Traitor!" cried a courtier, as he 
picked up a bunch of muddy rushes from the floor and flung them 
at the archbishop's head. 

Becket turned, and looking him sternly in the face, said, " Were 
I not a churchman, I would make you repent that word." 

Realizing, however, that he was now in serious danger, he soon 
after left Northampton and fled to France. 

218. Banishment versus Excommunication. — Henry, finding 
Becket beyond his reach, next proceeded to banish his kinsmen and 
friends, without regard to age or sex, to the number of nearly four 
hundred. The miserable exiles, many of whom were nearly desti- 
tute, were forced to leave the country in midwinter, and excited 
the pity of all who saw them, Becket indignantly retaliated by 
hurling at the king's counsellors that awful anathema of excom- 
munication which declares those against whom it is directed ac- 
cursed of God and man, deprived of help in this world, and shut 
out from hope in the world to come. In this manner the quarrel 
went on with ever-increasing bitterness for the space of six years. 

219. Prince Henry crowned; Reconciliation. — In 1170, 

Henry, who had long wished to associate his son Prince Henry 
with him in the government, had him crowned at Westminster by 

1 William of Newburgh. 



THE ANGEVINS, OR PLANTAGENETS. 93 

the Archbishop of York, the bishops of London and Salisbury 
taking part. 

By custom, if not indeed by law, Becket alone, as Archbishop of 
Canterbury, had the right to perform this ceremony. 

When Becket heard of the coronation, he declared it an outrage 
both against Christianity and the church. So great an outcry now 
arose that Henry believed it expedient to recall the absent arch- 
bishop, especially as the king of France was urging the Pope to 
take up the matter. Henry accordingly went over to the conti- 
nent, met Becket and persuaded him to return. 

220. Renewal of the Quarrel ; Murder of Becket. — But the 

reconciliation was on the surface only ; underneath, the old hatred 
smouldered, ready to burst forth into flame. 

As soon as he reached England, Becket invoked the thunders of 
the church against those who had officiated at the coronation of 
the boy Henry. He excommunicated the archbishop of York 
with his assistant bishops. The king took their part, and in an 
unguarded moment exclaimed, in an outburst of passion, "Will 
none of the cowards who eat my bread rid me of that turbulent 
priest?" In answer to his angry cry for relief, four knights set 
out without Henry's knowledge for Canterbury, and brutally mur- 
dered the archbishop within the walls of his own cathedral. 

221. Results of the Murder. — The crime sent a thrill of horror 
throughout the realm. The Pope proclaimed Becket a ^feint. The 
English people, feeling that he had risen from their ranks and was 

\ of their blood, now looked upon the dead ecclesiastic as a martyr 
\ who had died in the defence of the church, and of all those around 
whom the church cast its protecting power. The cathedral was 
£ hung in mourning ; Becket's shrine became the most famous in 
England, and the stone pavement, with the steps leading to it, both 
show by their deep-worn hollows where thousands of pilgrims coming 
from all parts of the kingdom, and from the continent even, used to 
creep on their knees to the saint's tomb to pray for his intercession. 
Henry himself was so far vanquished by the reaction in Becket's 



94 LEADING FACTS OF ENGLISH HISTORY. 

favor, that he gave up any further attempt to enforce the Constitu- 
tions of Clarendon, by which he had hoped to establish a uniform 
system of administration of justice. But the attempt, though 
baffled, was not wholly lost ; like seed buried in the soil, it sprang 
up and bore good fruit in later generations. 

222. The King makes his Will; Civil War. —Some years 
after the murder the king bequeathed England and Normandy to 
Prince Henry. 1 He at the same time provided for his sons Geof- 
frey and Richard. To John, the youngest of the brothers, he gave 
no territory, but requested Henry to grant him several castles, 
which the latter refused to do. 

" It is our fate," said one of the sons, " that none should love the 
rest ; that is the only inheritance which will never be taken from 
us." 

It may be that that legacy of hatred was the result of Henry's 
unwise marriage with Eleanor, an able but perverse woman, or it 
may have sprung from her jealousy of "Fair Rosamond" and 
other favorites of the king. 2 

Eventually this feeling burst out into civil war. Brother fought 
against brother, and Eleanor, conspiring with the king of France, 
turned against her husband. 

223. The King's Penance. — The revolt against Henry's power 
began in Normandy. While he was engaged in quelling it, he re- 

1 After his coronation Prince Henry had the title of Henry III.; but as he died 
before his father, he never properly became king in his own right. 

2 " Fair Rosamond " [Rosa mundi, the Rose of the world (as then interpreted)] 
was the daughter of Lord Clifford. According to tradition the king formed an 
attachment for this lady before his unfortunate marriage with Eleanor, and construc- 
ted a place of concealment for her in a forest in Woodstock, near Oxford. Some 
accounts report th«=; queen as discovering her rival and putting her to death. She 
was buried in the nunnery of Godstow near by. When Henry's son John became 
king, he raised a monument to her memory with the inscription in Latin : — 

" This tomb doth here enclose 
The world's most beauteous Rose — 
Rose passing sweet erewhile, 
Now nought but odor vile." 



THE ANGEVINS, OR PLANTAGENETS. 95 

ceived intelligence that Earl Bigod of Norfolk 1 and the Bishop of 
Durham, both of whom hated the king's reforms, since they cur- 
tailed their authority, had risen against him. 

Believing that this new trouble was a judgment of Heaven for 
Becket's murder, Henry resolved to do penance at his tomb. Leav- 
ing the continent with two prisoners in his charge — one his son 
Henry's queen, the other his own, — he travelled with all speed 
to Canterbury. There kneeling abjectly before the grave of his 
former chancellor and friend, the king submitted to be beaten 
with rods by the priests, in expiation of his sin. 

224. End of the Rebellion. — -Henry then moved against the 
rebels in the north. Convinced of the hopelessness of holding 
out against his forces, they submitted, With their submission the 
struggle of the barons against the crown came to an end. It had 
lasted just one hundred years (1074-1174). It settled the ques- 
tion, once for all, that England was not like the rest of Europe, to 
be managed in the interest of a body of great baronial landholders 
always at war with each other ; but was henceforth to be governed 
by one central power, restrained but not overridden by that of the 
nobles and the church. 

225. The King again begins his Reforms. — As soon as order 
was restored, Henry once more set about completing his legai and 
judicial reforms. His great object was to secure a uniform system 
of administering justice which should be effective and impartial. 
Henry I. had undertaken to divide the kingdom into districts or 
circuits, which were assigned to a certain number of judges, who 
travelled through them at stated times collecting the royal revenue 
and administering the law. Henry II. revised and perfected this 
plan. 2 Not only had the barons set up private courts on their 
estates, but they had in many cases got the entire, control of the 

1 Hugh Bigod : the Bigods were among the most prominent and also the most 
turbulent of the Norman barons. On the derivation of the name, see Webster's 
Dictionary, " Bigot." 

2 Grand Assize and Assize of Clarendon (not to be confounded with the Con- 
stitutions of Clarendon). 



g6 LEADING FACTS OF ENGLISH HISTORY. 

town and other local courts, and dealt out such justice or injus- 
tice as they pleased. The king's judges now presided over these 
tribunals, thus bringing the common law of the realm to every 
man's door. 

226. Grand Juries. — The Norman method of settling disputes 
was by trial of battle, in which the contestants or their champions 
fought the matter out with either swords or cudgels. There were 
those who objected to this club-law. To them the king offered 
the privilege of leaving the case to the decision of twelve knights, 
chosen from the neighborhood, who were supposed to know the 
facts. 

In like manner, when the judges passed through a circuit, a 
grand jury of not less than sixteen was to report to them the 
criminals of each district. These the judges forthwith sent to the 
church to be examined by the ordeal. 1 If convicted, they were 
punished ; if not, the judges ordered them as suspicious characters 
to leave the country within eight days. In that way the rascals of 
that generation were summarily disposed of. 

227. Origin of the Modern Trial by Jury. — In 12 15 (reign 
of Henry's son John) the church abolished the ordeal throughout 
Christendom. It then became the custom in England to choose a 
petty jury, acquainted with the facts, who confirmed or denied the 
accusations brought by the grand jury. When this petty jury could 
not' agree, the decision of a majority was sometimes accepted. 

Owing to the difficulty of securing justice in this way, it gradu- 
ally became the custom to summon witnesses, who gave their testi- 
mony before the petty jury in order to thereby obtain a unanimous 
verdict. The first mention of this change occurs in the reign 
of Edward III. (1350) ; and from that time, perhaps, may be 
dated the true beginning of our modern method, by which the jury 
bring in a verdict, not from what they personally know, but from 
evidence sworn to by those who do. Henry II. may rightfully be 
regarded as the true founder of the system which England, and 



1 Ordeal: See Paragraph No. I27. 



THE ANGEVINS, OR PLANTAGENETS. 97 

England alone, fully matured, and which has since been adopted 
by every civilized country of the globe. 

228. The King's Last Days. — Henry's last days were full of 
bitterness. Ever since his memorable return from the continent, 
he had been obliged to hold the queen a prisoner lest she should 
undermine his power. His sons were discontented and rebellious. 
Toward the close of his reign they again plotted against him with 
King Philip of France. War was then declared against that coun- 
try. When peace was made, Henry, who was lying ill, asked to 
see a list of those who had conspired against him. At the head 
of it stood the name of his youngest son John, whom he trusted, 
At the sight of it the old man turned his face to the wall, saying, 
" I have nothing left to care for ; let all things go their way." Two 
days afterward he died of a broken heart. 

229. Summary. — Henry II. left his work only half done ; yet 
that half was permanent and its beneficent mark may be seen on the 
English law and the English constitution at the present time. When 
he ascended the throne he found a people who had long been 
suffering the miseries of a protracted civil war. He established 
a stable government. He redressed their wrongs. He punished 
the mutinous barons. He compelled the church, at least for a 
time, to acknowledge the supremacy of the state. He reformed 
the administration of law ; established methods of judicial inquiry 
which were to gradually develop into trial by jury ; and made all 
men feel that a king sat on the throne who believed in justice and 
was able to make justice respected. 

RICHARD I. (Cceurde Lion). 1 — 1 189-1 199. 

230. Accession and Character of Richard. — Henry II. was 
succeeded by his second son Richard, his first having died during 

1 Richard Coeur de Lion (keur de le' on), Richard the Lion-hearted. An old 
chronicler says the king got the name from his adventure with a lion. The beast 
attacked him, and as the king had no weapons, he thrust his hand down his throat 
and " tore out his heart ! ! " 



98 LEADING FACTS OF ENGLISH HISTORY. 

the civil war of 1183, in which he and his brother Geoffrey had 
fought against Prince Richard and their father. Richard was born 
at Oxford, but he spent his youth in France. The only Eng- 
lish sentence that he was ever known to speak was when in a 
raging passion he vented his wrath against an impertinent French- 
man, in some broken but decidedly strong expressions of his native 
tongue. Richard's bravery in battle and his daring exploits gained 
for him the nattering surname of Cceur de Lion. He had a right 
to it, for with all his faults he certainly possessed the heart of a 
lion. He might, however, have been called, with equal truth, 
Richard the Absentee, since out of a nominal reign of ten years 
he spent but a few months in England, the remaining time being 
consumed in wars abroad. 

231. Condition of Society. — No better general picture of 
society in England during this period can be found than that pre- 
sented by Sir Walter Scott's novel, " Ivanhoe." There every class 
appears — the Saxon serf and swineherd, wearing the brazen collar 
of his master Cedric ; the pilgrim wandering from shrine to shrine, 
with the palm branch in his cap to show that he has visited the Holy 
Land ; the outlaw, Robin Hood, lying in wait to strip rich church- 
men and other travellers who were on their way through Sherwood 
Forest ; the Norman baron in his castle torturing the aged Jew to 
extort his hidden gold ; and the steel-clad knights, with Ivanhoe 
at their head, splintering lances in the tournament, presided over 
by Richard's brother, the traitorous Prince John. 

232. Richard's Coronation. — Richard was on the continent 
at the time of his father's death. His first act was to liberate 
his mother from her long imprisonment at Winchester ; his next, 
to place her at the head of the English government until his 
arrival from Normandy. Unlike Henry II., Richard did not 
issue a charter, or pledge of good government. He, however, 
took the usual coronation oath to defend the church, maintain 
justice, make salutary laws, and abolish evil customs; such an 
oath might well be considered a charter in itsejf. 






THE ANGEVINS, OR PLANTAGENETS. 99 

233. The Crusade; Richard's Devices for raising Money. — 

Immediately after his coronation, Richard began to make prepara- 
tions to join the king of France and the emperor of Germany in 
the third crusade. To get money for the expedition, the king 
extorted loans from the Jews, who were the creditors of half 
England, and had almost complete control of the capital and 
commerce of every country in Europe. The English nobles who 
joined Richard also borrowed largely from the same source ; and 
then, suddenly turning on the hated lenders, they tried to extin- 
guish the debt by extinguishing the Jews. A pretext against the 
unfortunate race was easily found. Riots broke out in London, 
York, and elsewhere, and hundreds of Israelites were brutally 
massacred. Richard's next move to obtain funds was to impose 
a heavy tax ; his next, to dispose of titles of rank and offices in 
both church and state, to all who wished to buy them. Thus, to 
the aged and covetous bishop of Durham he sold the earldom 
of Northumberland for life, saying, as he concluded the bargain, 
" Out of an old bishop I have made a new earl." He sold, also, 
the office of chief justice to the same prelate for an additional 
thousand marks, 1 while the king of Scotland purchased freedom 
from subjection to the English king for ten thousand marks. 
Last of all, Richard sold charters to towns. One of his courtiers 
remonstrated with him for his greed for gain. He replied that he 
would sell London itself if he could but find a purchaser. 

234. The Rise of the Free Towns. — Of all these devices for 
raising money, the last had the most important results. From the 
time of the Norman Conquest the large towns of England, with 
few exceptions, were considered part of the king's property ; the 
smaller places generally belonged to the great barons. The citi- 
zens of these towns were obliged to pay rent and taxes of various 
kinds to the king or lord who owned them. These dues were col- 
lected by an officer appointed by the king or lord (usually the 
sheriff), who was bound to obtain a certain sum, whatever more 

L.tf^C, 1 Mark: see note to Paragraph No. 211. 



IOO LEADING FACTS OF ENGLISH HISTORY. 

he could get being his own profit. For this reason it was for his 
interest to exact from every citizen the uttermost penny. London, 
as we have seen, had secured a considerable degree of liberty 
through the charter granted to it by William the Conqueror. Every 
town was now anxious to obtain a similar pledge. The three great 
objects aimed at by the citizens were (i) to get the right of pay- 
ing their taxes (a fixed sum) directly to the king, (2) to elect 
their own magistrates, and (3) to administer justice in their own 
courts in accordance with laws made by themselves. The only 
way to gain these privileges was to pay for them. Many of the 
towns were rich ; and, when the king or lord needed money, they 
bargained with him for the favors they desired. When the agree- 
ment was made, it was drawn up in Latin, stamped with the 
king's seal, and taken home in triumph by the citizens, who locked 
it up as the safeguard of their liberties. If they could not get all 
they wanted, they bought a part. Thus, the people of Leicester, 
in the next reign, purchased from the earl, their master, the right 
to decide their own disputes. For this they paid a yearly tax of 
three pence on every house having a gable on the main street. 
These concessions may seem small; but they prepared the way 
for greater ones. What was still more important, they educated 
the citizens of that day in a knowledge of self-government. It 
was the tradesmen and shopkeepers of these towns who preserved 
free speech and equal justice. Richard granted a large number 
of such charters, and thus unintentionally made himself a bene- 
factor to the nation. 

235. Failure of the Third Crusade. — The object of the third 
crusade was to drive the Turks from Jerusalem. In this it failed. 
Richard got as near Jerusalem as the Mount of Olives. When he 
had climbed to the top, he was told that he could have a full view 
of the place ; but he covered his face with his mantle, saying, 
"Blessed Lord, let me not see thy holy city since I may not 
deliver it from the hands of thine enemies ! " 



THE ANGEVINS, OR PLANTAGENETS. IOI 

236. Richard taken Prisoner; his Ransom. — On his way 

home the king fell into the hands of the German emperor, 
who held him captive. His brother John, who had remained in 
England, plotted with Philip of France to keep Richard in prison 
while he got possession of the throne. Notwithstanding his ef- 
forts, Richard regained his liberty, 1 on condition of raising a 
ransom so enormous that it compelled every Englishman to con- 
tribute a fourth of his personal property, and to strip the churches 
of their jewels and silver plate even. When the king of France 
heard of this, he wrote to John notifying him that his brother was 
free, saying, " Look out for yourself; the devil has broken loose." 
Richard pardoned- him ; and when the king was killed in France 
in 1 199, John gained and disgraced the throne he coveted. 

237. Purpose of the Crusades. — Up to the time of the cru- 
sades, the English wars on the continent had been actuated either 
by ambition for military glory or desire for conquest. The cru- 
sades, on the contrary, were undertaken from motives of religious 
enthusiasm. Those who engaged in them fought for an idea. 
They considered themselves soldiers of the cross. Moved by this 
feeling, " all Christian believers seemed ready to precipitate them- 
selves in one united body upon Asia." Thus the crusades were 
"the first European event." 2 They gave men something to battle 
for, not only outside their country, but outside their own selfish 
interests. Richard, as we have seen, was the first English king 
who took part in them. Before that period, England had stood 
aloof, — "a world by itself." The country was engaged in its own 
affairs or in its contests with France. Richard's expedition to 
Palestine brought England into the main current of history, so 

l It is not certainly known how the news of Richard's captivity reached Eng- 
land. One story says that it was carried by Blondel, a minstrel who had accom- 
panied the king to Palestine. He, it is said, wandered through Germany in search 
of his master, singing one of Richard's favorite songs at every castle he came to. 
One day, as he was thus singing at the foot of a tower, he heard the well-known 
voice of the king take up the next verse in reply. 

2'Guizot, History of Civilization. 



102 LEADING FACTS OF ENGLISH HISTORY. 

that it was now moved by the same feeling which animated the 
continent. 

238. The Results of the Crusades : Educational, Social, Polit- 
ical. — In many respects the civilization of the East was far in 
advance of the West. One result of the crusades was to open the 
eyes of Europe to this fact. When Richard and his followers set 
out, they looked upon the Mohammedans as barbarians ; before 
they returned, many were ready to acknowledge that the barbarians 
were chiefly among themselves. At that time England had few 
Latin and no Greek scholars. The Arabians, however, had long 
been familiar with the classics, and had translated them into their 
own tongue. Not only did England gain its first knowledge of the 
philosophy of Plato and Aristotle from Mohammedan teachers, 
but it received from them also the elements of arithmetic, algebra, 
geometry, and astronomy. This new knowledge gave an impulse 
to education, and had a most important influence on die growth 
of the universities of Cambridge and Oxford, though these did not 
become prominent until more than a century later. Had these 
been the only results, they would perhaps have been worth the 
blood and treasure spent in vain attempts to recover possession 
of the sepulchre of Christ ; but these were by no means all. The 
crusades brought about a social and political revolution. They 
conferred benefits and removed evils. When they began, the 
greater part of the inhabitants of Europe, including England, were 
chained to the soil. They had neither freedom, property, nor 
knowledge. 

There were in fact but two classes, the churchmen and the nobles, 
who really deserved the name of citizens and men. We have seen 
that the crusades compelled kings like Richard to grant charters of 
freedom to towns. The nobles conferred similar privileges on 
those in their power. Thus their great estates were, in a measure, 
broken up and from this period the common people began to 
acquire rights, and, what is more, to defend them. 1 



1 Gibbon's Rome. 



THE ANGEVINS, OR PLANTAGENETS. 103 

239. Summary. — We may say in closing that the central fact in 
Richard's reign was his embarking in the crusades. From them, 
directly or indirectly, England gained two important results : first, 
a greater degree of political liberty, especially in the case of the 
towns ; second, a new intellectual and educational impulse. 

JOHN. — 1199-1216. 

240. John Lackland. — When Henry II. in dividing his realm 
left his youngest son John dependent on the generosity of his 
brothers, he jestingly gave him the surname of " Lackland." As 
John never received any principality, the nickname continued to 
cling to him even after he had become king through the death of 
his brother Richard. 

241. The Quarrels of the King. — The reign of the new king 
was taken up mainly with three momentous quarrels : first, with 
France ; next, with the Pope ; lastly, with the barons. By his 
quarrel with France he lost Normandy and the greater part of the 
adjoining provinces, thus becoming in a new sense John Lackland. 
By his quarrel with the Pope he was humbled to the earth. By 
his quarrel with the barons he was forced to grant England the 
Great Charter. 

242. Murder of Prince Arthur. — Shortly after John's acces- 
sion the nobles of a part of the English possessions in France ex- 
pressed their desire that John's nephew, Arthur, a boy of twelve, 
should become their ruler. John refused to grant their request. 
War ensued, and Arthur fell into his uncle's hands, who imprisoned 
him in the castle of Rouen. A number of those who had been 
captured with the young prince were starved to death in the dun- 
geons of the same castle, and not long after Arthur himself myste- 
riously disappeared. Shakespeare represents John as ordering 
the keeper of the castle to put out the lad's eyes, and then tells us 
that he was r killed in an attempt to escape. The earlier belief, 
however, was that the king murdered him. 



104 LEADING FACTS OF ENGLISH HISTORY. 

243. John's Loss of Normandy. — Philip of France accused 
John of the crime, and ordered him as Duke of Normandy, and 
hence as a feudal dependant, to appear at Paris for trial. 1 He 
refused. The court was convened, John was declared a traitor 
and sentenced to forfeit all his lands on the continent. For a long 
time he made no attempt to defend his dominions, but left his 
Norman nobles to carry on a war against Philip as best they could. 
At last, after much territory had been lost, the English king made 
an attempt to regain it. The result was a humiliating and crush- 
ing defeat, in which Philip seized Normandy and followed up the 
victory by depriving John of all his possessions north of the river 
Loire. 

244. Good Results of the Loss of Normandy. — From that 
period the Norman nobles were compelled to choose between the 
island of England and the continent for their home. Before that 
time the Norman contempt for the Saxon was so great, that his 
most indignant exclamation was, " Do you take me for an English- 
man?" Now, however, shut in by the sea, with the people he 
had hitherto oppressed and despised, he gradually came to regard 
England as his country, and Englishmen as his countrymen. Thus 
the two races so long hostile found at last that they had common 
interests and common enemies. 2 

245. The King's Despotism. — Hitherto our sympathies have 
been mainly with the kings. We have watched them struggling 
against the lawless nobles, and every gain which they have made 
in power we have felt to be so much for the cause of good goverm 
ment ; but we are coming to a period when our sympathies will be 
the other way. Henceforth the welfare of the nation will depend 
largely on the resistance of these very barons to the despotic en- 
croachments of the crown. 3 

1 It is proper to state in this connection that a recent French writer on this 
period — M. Bemont — is satisfied that John's condemnation and the forfeiture of 
Normandy took place before Arthur's death, for tyranny in Poitou. 

2 Ma caul ay. 

8 Ransome's Constitutional History of England. 



THE ANGEVTNS, OR PLANTAGENETS. 105 

246. Quarrel of the King with the Church. — Shortly after his 
defeat in France, John entered upon his second quarrel. Pope 
Innocent III. had commanded a delegation of the monks of Can- 
terbury to choose Stephen Langton archbishop in place of a per- 
son whom the king had compelled them to elect. When the news 
reached John, he forbade Langton's landing in England, although 
it was his native country. The Pope forthwith declared the king- 
dom under an interdict, or suspension of religious services. For 
two years the churches were hung in mourning, the bells ceased to 
ring, the doors were shut fast. For two years the priests denied 
the sacraments to the living and funeral prayers for the dead. At 
the end of that time the Pope, by a bull of excommunication, 1 cut 
off the king as a withered branch from the church. John laughed 
at the interdict, and met the decree of excommunication with 
such cruel treatment of the priests, that they fled terrified from 
the land. The Pope now took a third step ; he deposed John, 
and ordered Philip of France to seize the English crown. Then 
John, knowing that he stood alone, made a virtue of necessity. 
He kneeled at the feet of the Pope's legate, or representative, 
accepted Stephen Langton as Archbishop of Canterbury, and 
promised to pay, a yearly tax to Rome of iooo marks (about 
$64,000 in modern money) for permission to keep his crown. The 
Pope was satisfied with the victory he had gained over his ignoble 
foe, and peace was made. 

247. The Great Charter. — But peace in one direction did not 
mean peace in all. John's tyranny, brutality, and disregard of his 
subjects' welfare had gone too far. He had refused the church 
both the right to fill its offices and to enjoy its revenues. He 
had extorted exorbitant sums from the barons. He had violated 
the charters of London and other cities. He had compelled mer- 
chants to pay large sums for the privilege of carrying on their busi- 
ness unmolested. He had imprisoned men on false or frivolous 
charges, and refused to bring them to trial. He had unjustly 

1 Bull (Latin bulla, a leaden seal) : a decree issued by the Pope, bearing his seal. 



106 LEADING FACTS OF ENGLISH HISTORY. 

claimed heavy sums from serfs and other poor men ; and when 
they could not pay, had seized their carts and tools, thus depriving 
them of their means of livelihood. Those who had suffered these 
and greater wrongs were determined to have reformation, and to 
have it in the form of a written charter or pledge bearing the 
king's seal. The new archbishop was not less determined. He 
no sooner landed than he demanded of the king that he should 
swear to observe the laws of Edward the Confessor, 1 a phrase in 
which the whole of the national liberties was summed up. 

248. Preliminary Meeting at St. Albans. — In the summer of 
1 2 13, a council was held at St. Albans, near London, composed 
of representatives from all parts of the kingdom. It was the first 
assembly of the kind on record. It convened to consider what 
claims should be made on the king in the interest of the nobles, 
the clergy, and the country. Their deliberations took shape prob- 
ably under Langton's guiding hand. He had obtained a copy of 
the charter granted by Henry I. a This was used as a model for 
drawing up a new one of similar character, but in every respect 
fuller and stronger in its provisions. 

249. Second Meeting. — Late in the autumn of the following 
year, the barons met in the abbey church of Bury St. Edmund's, 
in Suffolk, under their leader, Robert Fitz-Walter, of London. 
Advancing one by one up the church to the high altar, they 
solemnly swore that they would oblige John to grant the new 
charter, or they would declare war aarainst him. 

250. The King grants the Charter. — At Easter, 12 15, the 
same barons, attended by two thousand armed knights, met the 
king at Oxford, and made known to him their demands. John 
tried to evade giving a direct answer. Seeing that to be impos- 
sible, and finding that London was on the side of the barons, he 
yielded, and requested them to name the day and place for the 

1 Laws of Edward the Confessor : not necessarily the laws made by that king, 
but rather the customs and rights enjoyed by the people during his reign. 

2 See Paragraph No. 185, and note. 



THE ANGEVINS, OR PLANTAGENETS. IO7 

ratification of the charter. " Let the day be the 15 th of June, 
the place Runnymede," ' was the reply. In accordance there- 
with, we read at the foot of the shrivelled parchment preserved in 
the British museum, " Given under our hand * * in the meadow 
called Runnymede, between Windsor and Staines, on the 15th 
June, in the 17th year of our reign." 

251. Terms and Value of the Charter. — By the terms of that 
document, henceforth to be known as Magna Carta, 2 or the Great 
Charter, — a term used to emphatically distinguish it from all 
previous and partial charters, — it was stipulated that the follow- 
ing grievances should be redressed: first, those of the church; 
second, those of the barons and their vassals or tenants ; third, 
those of citizens and tradesmen ; fourth, those of freemen and 
serfs. This, then, was the first agreement entered into between 
the king and all classes of his people. Of the sixty-three articles 
which constituted it, the greater part, owing to the changes of time, 
are now obsolete ; but three possess imperishable value. These 
provide first, that no free man shall be imprisoned or proceeded 
against except by his peers, or the law of the land ; 3 second, that 
justice shall neither be sold, denied, nor delayed ; third, that all 
dues from the people to the king, unless otherwise distinctly speci- 
fied, shall be imposed only With the consent of the National 
Council — an expedient which converted the power of taxation into 
the shield of liberty. 4 Thus, for the first time, the interests of all 
classes were protected, and for the first time the English people 
appear in the constitutional history of the country as a united 
body. So highly was this charter esteemed, that in the course of 
the next two centuries it was confirmed no less than thirty-seven 



1 Runnymede: about twenty miles southwest of London, on the south bank of 
the Thames, in Surrey. 

2 Magna Carta: carta is the spelling in the mediaeval Latin of this and the pre- 
ceding charters. 

3 Peers (from Latin pares), equals. This secures trial by jury. 

4 Mackintosh. This provision was, however, dropped in the next reign; but 
later the principle it laid down was firmly established. 



108 LEADING FACTS OF ENGLISH HISTORY. 

times : and the very day that Charles II. entered London, after the 
civil wars of the seventeenth century, the House of Commons 
asked him to confirm it again. 

252. John's Efforts to break the Charter. — But John had no 
sooner set his hand to this document than he determined to re- 
pudiate it. He hired bands of soldiers on the continent to come 
to his aid. The Pope also used his influence, and threatened the 
barons with excommunication if they persisted in enforcing the 
provisions of the charter. 

253. The Barons invite Louis of France to aid them. — In 

their desperation, — for the king's mercenaries were now ravaging 
the country, — the barons despatched a messenger to John's sworn 
enemy, Philip of France, inviting him to send over his son, Louis, 
to free them from tyranny, and become ruler of the kingdom. 
He came with all speed, and soon made himself master of the 
southern counties. 

254. The King's Death. — John had styled himself on his great 
seal " King of England " ; thus formally claiming the actual owner- 
ship of the realm. He was now to find that the sovereign who 
has no place in his subjects' hearts has small hold of their pos- 
sessions. 

The rest of his ignominious reign was spent in war against the 
barons and Louis of France. " They have placed twenty-four 
kings over me ! " he shouted, in his fury, referring to the twenty- 
four leading men who had been appointed to see that the charter 
did not become a dead letter. But the twenty-four did their 
duty, and the battle went on. In the midst of it John suddenly 
died, as the old record said, "a knight without truth, a king with- 
out justice, a Christian without faith." He was buried in Worces- 
ter Cathedral, wrapped in a monk's gown, and placed, for further 
protection, between the bodies of two Saxon saints. 

255. Summary. — John's reign may be regarded as a turning- 
point in English history. 






THE ANGEVINS, OR PLANTAGENETS. IO9 

1. Through the loss of Normandy, the Norman nobility found 
it for their interest to make the welfare of England and of the 
English race one with their own. Thus the two peoples became 
more and more united, until finally all differences ceased. 

2. In demanding and obtaining the Great Charter, the church 
and the nobility made common cause with the people. That 
document represents the victory, not of a class, but of the nation. 
The next eighty years will be mainly taken up with the effort of 
the nation to hold fast what it has gained. 

HENRY III. — 1216-1272. 

256. Accession and Character. — John's eldest son Henry was 
crowned at the age of nine. During his long and feeble reign 
England's motto might well have been the words of Ecclesiastes, 
" Woe to thee, O land, when thy king is a child ! " since a child 
he remained to the last; for if John's heart was of millstone, 
Henry's was of wax. In one of his poems, written perhaps not 
long after Henry's death, Dante represents him as he sees him in 
imagination just on the borderland of purgatory. The king is 
not in suffering, for as he has done no particular good, so he has 
done no great harm ; he appears, therefore, " as a man of simple 
life, spending his time singing psalms in a narrow valley." 1 

That shows one side of his negative character ; the other was 
love of extravagance and vain display joined to instability of pur- 
pose. 

257. Reissue of the Great Charter. — Louis, the French prince 
who had come to England in John's reign as an armed claimant 
to the throne, finding that both the barons and the church pre- 
ferred an English to a foreign king, now retired. During his 
minority Henry's guardians twice reissued the great charter : first, 
with the omission of the article which reserved the power of tax- 
ation to the National Council, and finally with an addition declaring 
that no man should lose life or limb for hunting in the royal forests. 

1 Dante's Purgatory, vii. 131. 



HO LEADING FACTS OF ENGLISH HISTORY. / 

On the last occasion the council granted the king in return a 
fifteenth of their movable or personal property. This tax, as it 
reached a large class of people like merchants in towns, who were 
not landholders, had a decided influence in making them desire 
to have a voice in the National Council, or Parliament, as it began 
to be called in this reign (1246). It thus helped, as we shall see 
later on, to prepare the way for an important change in that body. 1 

258. Henry's Extravagance. — When Henry became of age 
he entered upon a course of extravagant expenditure. This, with 
unwise and unsuccessful wars, finally piled up debts to the amount 
of nearly a million of marks, or, in modern money, upwards of 
^13,000,000 ($65,000,000). To satisfy the clamors of his cred- 
itors he mortgaged the Jews, or rather the right of extorting money 
from them, to his brother Richard. He also violated charters and 
treaties in order to compel the nation to purchase their reissue. 
On the birth of his first son, Prince Edward, he showed himself so 
eager for congratulatory gifts, that one of the nobles present at 
court said, " Heaven gave us this child, but the king sells him 
to us." 

259. His Church Building. — Still, not all of the king's extrav- 
agance was money thrown away. Everywhere on the continent 
magnificent churches were rising. The heavy and sombre Norman 
architecture, with its round arches and square, massive towers, was 
giving place to the more graceful Gothic style, with its pointed 
arch and lofty, tapering spire. The king shared the religious en- 
thusiasm of those who built the grand cathedrals of Salisbury, 
Lincoln, and Ely. He himself rebuilt the greater part of West- 
minster Abbey as it now stands. A monument so glorious ought 
to make us willing to overlook some faults in the builder. Yet 
the expense and taxation incurred in erecting the great minster 

1 The first tax on movable or personal property appears to have been levied by 
Henry II., in 1188, for the support of the crusades. Under Henry III. the idea 
began to become general that no class should be taxed without their consent ; out 
of this grew the representation of townspeople in Parliament. 



THE ANGEVINS, OR PLANTAGENETS. Ill 

must be reckoned among the causes that bred discontent and led 
to civil war. 

260. Religious Reformation ; the Friars ; Roger Bacon. — 

While this movement, which covered the land with religious edi- 
fices, was in progress, religion itself was undergoing a change. 
The old monastic orders had grown rich, indolent, and corrupt. 
The priests had well-nigh ceased to do missionary work ; preaching 
had almost died out. At this period a reform sprang up within 
the church itself. A new order of monks had arisen calling them« 
selves in Norman French Freres, 1 or Brothers, a word which the 
English turned into Friars. These Brothers bound themselves to 
a life of self-denial and good works. From their living on charity 
they came to be known as Mendicant Friars. They went from 
place to place exhorting men to repentance, and proclaiming the 
almost forgotten Gospel of Christ. Others, like Roger Bacon at 
Oxford, took an important part in education, and endeavored to 
rouse the sluggish monks to make efforts in the same direction. 
Bacon's experiments in physical science, which was then neglected 
and despised, got him the reputation of being a magician. He 
was driven into exile, imprisoned for many years, and deprived of 
books and writing materials. But, as nothing could check the 
religious fervor of his mendicant brothers, so no hardship or suf- 
fering could daunt the intellectual enthusiasm of Bacon. When 
he emerged from captivity he issued his Opus Majus, 2 an "in- 
quiry" as he called it "into the roots of knowledge." It was 
especially devoted to mathematics and the sciences, and deserves 
the name of the encyclopaedia of the thirteenth century. 

261. The Provisions of Oxford. — But the prodigal expendi- 
ture and mismanagement of Henry kept on increasing. At last 
the burden of taxation became too great to bear. Bad harvests 
had caused a famine, and multitudes perished even in London. 

1 Freres (Mr). 

2 Opus Majus : Greater Work, to distinguish it from a later summary entitled 
the Opus Minus, or Lesser Work. 



112 LEADING FACTS OF ENGLISH HISTORY. 

Confronted by these evils, Parliament met in the Great Hall at 
Westminster. Many of the barons were in complete armor. As 
the king entered there was an ominous clatter of swords. Henry* 
looking around, asked timidly, "Am I a prisoner? " 

" No, sire," answered Earl Bigod ; " but we must have reform." 
The king agreed to summon a Parliament to meet at Oxford and 
consider what should be dune. Their enemies nicknamed the 
assembly the " Mad Parliament " ; but there was both method and 
determination in their madness, for which the country was grate- 
ful. With Simon de Montfort, the king's brother-in-law, at their 
head, they drew up a set of articles or provisions to which Henry 
gave an unwilling assent, which practically took the government 
out of his inefficient hands and vested it in the control of three 
committees, or councils. 

262. Renewal of the Great Charter. — Even this was not 
enough. The king was now compelled to reaffirm that Great 
Charter which his father had unwillingly granted at Runnymede. 
Standing in St. Catherine's Chapel within the partially finished 
church of Westminster Abbey, Henry, holding a lighted taper in 
his hand, in company with the chief men of the realm, swore to 
observe the provisions of the covenant. At the close he exclaimed, 
as he dashed the taper on the pavement, while all present repeated 
the words and the action, " So go out with smoke and stench the 
accursed souls of those who break or pervert this charter." There 
is no evidence that the king was insincere in his oath ; but unfor- 
tunately his piety was that of impulse, not of principle. The com- 
pact was soon broken, and the land again stripped by taxes ex- 
torted by violence, partly to cover Henry's own extravagance, but 
largely to swell the coffers of the Pope, who had promised to make 
his son Prince Edward ruler over Sicily. 

263. Growing Feeling of Discontent. — During this time the 
barons were daily growing more mutinous and defiant, saying that 
they would rather die than be ruined by the " Romans," as they 
called the papal power. To a fresh demand for money Earl 



THE ANGEVINS, OR PLANTAGENETS. 113 

Bigod gave a flat refusal. " Then I will send reapers and reap 
your fields for you," cried the king to him. " And I will send you 
back the heads of your reapers/' retorted the angry earl. 

It was evident that the nobles would make no concessions. The 
same spirit was abroad which, at an earlier date, made the parlia- 
ment of Merton declare, when asked to alter the customs of the 
country to suit the ordinances of the church of Rome, " We will 
not change the laws of England." So now they were equally re- 
solved not to pay the Pope money in behalf of the king's son, 

264. Civil War; Battle of Lewes. — In 1264 the crisis was 
reached, and war broke out between the king and his brother-in- 
law, Simon de Montfort, Earl of Leicester, better known by his 
popular name of Sir Simon the Righteous. 

With fifteen thousand Londoners, and a number of the barons, 
he met Henry, who had a stronger force, on the heights above the 
town of Lewes, in Sussex. The result of the great battle fought 
there, was as decisive as that fought two centuries before by William 
the Conqueror, not many miles distant on the same coast. 1 

265. De Montf ort's Parliament ; the House of Commons (1265) . 

— Bracton, the foremost jurist of that day, said in his com- 
ments on the dangerous state of the times, " If the king were with- 
out a bridle, — that is, the law, — ■ his subjects ought to put a bridle 
on him." 

Earl Simon had that bridle ready, or rather he saw clearly where 
to get it. The battle of Lewes had gone against Henry, who had 
fallen captive to De Montfort. As head of the state the earl now 
called a parliament, which differed from all its predecessors in the 
fact that for the first time two citizens from each city, and two 
townsmen from each borough, or town, together with two knights, 
or country gentlemen, from each county, were summoned to Lon- 
don to join the barons and clergy in their deliberations. Thus, 
in the winter of 1266, that House of Commons, or legislative 

1 The village of Battle, which marks the spot where the battle of Hastings was 
fought, 1066, is less than twenty miles east of Lewes. 



114 LEADING FACTS OF ENGLISH HISTORY. 

assembly of the people, originated, which, when fully established 
in the next reign, was to sit for more than three hundred years in 
the chapter-house 1 of Westminster Abbey. At last those who had 
neither land nor rank, but who paid taxes on personal property only, 
had obtained representation. Henceforth the king had a bridle 
which he could not shake off. Henceforth Magna Carta was no 
longer to be a dead parchment promise of reform, rolled up and hid- 
den away, but was to become a living, ever-present, effective truth. 
From this date the Parliament of England began to lose its ex- 
clusive character and to become a true representative body stand- 
ing for the whole nation, and hence the model of every such 
assembly which now meets, whether in the old world or the new ; 
the beginning of what President Lincoln called, "government of 
the people, by the people, for the people." 

266. Earl Simon's Death. — Yet the same year brought for the 
earl a fatal reaction. The barons, jealous of his power, fell away 
from him. Edward, the king's eldest son, gathered them round the 
royal standard to attack and crush the man who had humiliated 
his father. De Montfort was at Evesham; 2 from the top of the 
church tower he saw the prince approaching. " Commend your 
souls to God," he said to the faithful few who stood by him ; " for 
our bodies are the foes' ! " There he fell. In the north aisle of 
Westminster Abbey, not far from Henry's tomb, may be seen the 
emblazoned arms of the brave earl. England, so rich in effigies of 
her great men, so faithful, too, in her remembrance of them, has 
not yet set up in the vestibule of the House of Commons among 
the statues of her statesmen, the image of him who was in many 
respects the leader of them all, and the real originator and founder 
of the House itself. 

267. Summary. — Henry's reign lasted over half a century. 
During that period England, as we have seen, was not standing 

1 Chapter-house : the building where the chapter or governing body of an abbey 
or cathedral meet to transact business. 
8 Evesham, Worcestershire. 



THE ANGEVINS, OR PLANTA GENETS. 11$ 

still. It was an age of reform. In religion, the Mendicant Friars 
were exhorting men to better lives. In education, Roger Bacon 
and other devoted scholars were laboring to broaden knowledge 
and deepen thought. In political affairs the people through the 
House of Commons now first obtained a voice. Henceforth the 
laws will be in a measure their work, and the government will 
reflect in an ever-increasing degree their will. 

EDWARD I. — 1272-1307.1 

268. Edward I. and the Crusades* — Henry's son, Prince 
Edward, was in the East, fighting the battles of the crusades, at 
the time of his father's death. According to an account given in 
an old Spanish chronicle, his life was saved by the devotion of his 
wife Eleanor, who, when her husband was assassinated with a 
poisoned dagger, heroically sucked the poison from the wound. 

269. Edward's First Parliament. — Shortly after his return to 
England, he convened a parliament, to which the representatives 
of the people were summoned. This body declared that all pre- 
vious laws should be impartially executed, and that there should 
be no interference with elections. 2 Thus it will be seen that 
though Earl Simon was dead, his work went on. Edward had 
the wisdom to adopt and perfect the example his father's con- 
queror had left. By him, though not until near the close of his 
reign (1295), Parliament was firmly established, in its twofold 
form, of Lords and Commons, 3 and became " a complete image 
of the nation." 

270. Conquest of Wales ; Birth of the first Prince of Wales. 

— Henry II. had labored to secure unity of law for England. 
Edward's aim was to bring the whole island of Britain under one 
ruler. On the West, Wales only half acknowledged the power of 
the English king, while on the north, Scotland was practically an 

1 Edward I. was not crowned until 1274. 

2 The First Statute of Westminster. 

8 Lords: this term should be understood to include the higher clergy. 



Il6 LEADING FACTS OF ENGLISH HISTORY. 

independent sovereignty. The new king determined to begin by 
annexing the first-named country to the crown. He accordingly 
led an army thither, and, after several victorious battles, consid- 
ered that he had gained his end. To make sure of his new 
possessions, he erected the magnificent castles of Conway, Beau- 
maris, Harlech, and Caernarvon, all of which were permanently 
garrisoned with bodies of troops ready to check revolt. 

In the last-named stronghold, tradition still points out a little 
dark chamber, more like a state-prison cell than a royal apartment, 
where Edward's son, the first Prince of Wales, was born. The 
Welsh had vowed that they would never accept an Englishman as 
king ; but the young prince was a native of their soil, and cer- 
tainly in his cradle, at least, spoke as good Welsh as their own 
children of the same age. No objection, therefore, could be made 
to him ; by this happy compromise, it is said, Wales became a 
principality joined to the English crown. 1 

271. Conquest of Scotland; the Stone of Scone. — An oppor- 
tunity now presented itself for Edward to assert his power in 
Scotland. Two claimants, both of Norman descent, had come 
forward demanding the crown. 2 One was John Baliol ; the other, 
Robert Bruce, an ancestor of the famous king and general of that 
name, who comes prominently forward some years later. Edward 

1 Wales was not wholly incorporated with England until two centuries later, in 
the reign of Henry VIII. It then obtained local self-government and representa- 
tion in Parliament. 

2 Scotland : At the time of the Roman conquest of Britain, Scotland was in- 
habited by a Celtic race nearly akin to the primitive Irish, and more distantly so 
to the Britons. In time, the Saxons from the continent invaded the country, and 
settled on the lowlands of the East, driving bafck the Celts to the western highlands. 
Later, many English emigrated to Scotland, especially at the time of the Norman 
Conquest, where they found a hearty welcome. In 1072, William the Conqueror 
compelled the Scottish king to acknowledge him as overlord; and eventually so 
many Norman nobles established themselves in Scotland, that they constituted the 
chief landed aristocracy of the country. The modern Scottish nation, though it 
keeps its Celtic name (Scotland), is made up in great measure of inhabitants of 
English descent, the pure Scotch being confined mostly to the Highlands, and 
ranking in population only as about one to three of the former. 



THE ANGEVINS, OR PLANTAGENETS. 117 

was invited by the contestants to settle the dispute. He decided 
in Baliol's favor, but insisted, before doing so, that the latter should 
acknowledge the overlordship of England, as the king of Scotland 
had done to William I. Baliol made a virtue of necessity, and 
agreed to the terms; but shortly after formed a secret alliance 
with France against Edward, which was renewed from time to 
time, and kept up between the two countries for three hundred 
years. It is the key to most of the wars in which England was 
involved during that period. Having made this treaty, Balio) 
now openly renounced his allegiance to the English king. Edward 
at once organized a force, attacked Baliol, and compelled the 
country to acknowledge him as ruler. At the Abbey of Scone, near 
Perth, the English seized the famous " Stone of Destiny," the pal- 
ladium of Scotland, on which her kings were crowned. Carrying 
the trophy to Westminster Abbey, Edward enclosed it in that 
ancient coronation chair which has been used by every sovereign 
since, from his son's accession down to that of Victoria. 

272. Confirmation of the Charters. — Edward next prepared to 
attack France. In great need of money, he demanded a large 
sum from the clergy, and seized a quantity of wool in the hands 
of the merchants. The barons, alarmed at these arbitrary meas- 
ures, insisted on the king's reaffirming all previous charters of 
liberties, including the Great Charter, with certain additions ex- 
pressly providing that no money or goods should be taken by the 
crown except by the consent of the people. Thus out of the war, 
England "gained the one thing it needed to give the finishing 
touch to the building-up of Parliament ; namely, a solemn ac- 
knowledgment by the king that the nation alone had power to 
levy taxes." 1 

273. Revolt and Death of Wallace. — Scotland, however, was 
not wholly subdued. The patriot, William Wallace rose and led 
his countrymen against the English — led them with that impetu- 
ous valor which breathes in Burns' lines : — 

1 Rowley, Rise of the English People. 



Il8 LEADING FACTS OF ENGLISH HISTORY. 

« Scots wha ha'e wi' Wallace bled." 

But fate was against him. After eight years of desperate fighting, 
the valiant soldier was captured, executed on Tower Hill as a 
traitor, and his head, crowned in mockery with a wreath of laurel, 
set on a pike on London Bridge- 
But though the hero who perished on the scaffold could noi 
prevent his country from becoming one day a part of England, he 
did hinder its becoming so on unfair and tyrannical terms. " Scot- 
land is not Ireland. No; because brave men arose there, and 
said, * Behold, ye must not tread us down like slaves, — and ye 
shall not, — and ye cannot ! ' " l 

274. Expulsion of the Jews. — The darkest stain on Edward's 
reign was his treatment of the Jews. Up to this period that unfor- 
tunate race had been protected by the kings of England as men 
protect the cattle which they fatten for slaughter. So long as they 
accumulated money, and so long as the sovereign could rob them 
of their accumulations when he saw fit, they were worth guarding. 
A time had now come when the populace demanded their expul- 
sion from the island, on the ground that their usury and extortion 
were ruining the country. Edward yielded to the clamor, and first 
stripping the Jews of their possessions, he prepared to drive them 
into exile. It is said that even their books were taken from them 
and given to the libraries of Oxford. Thus pillaged, they were 
forced to leave the realm — a miserable procession, numbering 
some sixteen thousand. Many perished on the way, and so few 
ventured to return, that for four centuries and a half, until Cromwell 
came to power, they practically disappear from English history. 

275. Death of Queen Eleanor. — Shortly after this event, 
Queen Eleanor died. The king showed the love he bore her 
in the crosses he raised to her memory, three of which still stand. 2 

l Carlyle, Past and Present. 

9 Originally there were thirteen of these crosses. Of these, three remain ; viz., at 
Northampton, at Geddington, near by, and at Waltham, about twelve miles north 
east of London. 



THE ANGEVINS, OR PLANTAGENETS. 1 19 

These were erected at the places where her body was set down, in 
its transit from Grantham, in Lincolnshire, where she died, to 
the little village of Charing (now Charing Cross, the geographical 
centre of London), its last station before reaching its final resting- 
place, in that abbey at Westminster, which holds such wealth of 
historic dust. Around her tomb wax-lights were kept constantly 
burning, until the Protestant Reformation extinguished them, three 
hundred years later. 

276. Edward's Reforms ; Statute of Winchester. — The 

condition of England when Edward came to the throne was far 
from settled. The country was overrun with marauders. To 
suppress these, the -Statute of Winchester made the inhabitants 
of every district punishable by fines for crimes committed within 
their limits. Every walled town had to close its gates at sunset, 
and no stranger could be admitted during the night unless some 
citizen would be responsible for him. 

To clear the roads of the robbers that infested them, it was 
ordered that all highways between market towns should be kept 
free of underbrush for two hundred feet on each side, in order that 
desperadoes might not lie in ambush for travellers. 

Every citizen was required to keep arms and armor, according 
to his condition in life, and to join in the pursuit and arrest of 
criminals. 

277. Land Legislation. — Two important statutes were passed 
during this reign, respecting the free sale or transfer of land. 1 

Their effect was to confine the great estates to the hands of 
their owners and direct descendants, or, when land changed hands, 
to keep alive the claims of the great lords or the crown upon it. 
These laws rendered it difficult for landholders to evade, as they 
hitherto frequently had, their feudal duties to the king by the sale 

1 These laws may be regarded as the foundation of the English system of landed 
property : they completed the feudal claim to the soil established by William the 
Conqueror. They are known as the Second Statute of Westminster (De Donis, 
or Entail, 1285) and the Third Statute of Westminster (Quia Emptores, 1290). 



120 LEADING FACTS OF ENGLISH HISTORY. 

or subletting of estates. While they often built up the great fami- 
lies, they also operated to strengthen the power of the crown 
at the very time when that of Parliament and the people was 
increasing as a check upon its authority. 

278. Legislation respecting the Church. — A third enactment 
checked the undue increase of church property. Through gifts 
and bequests the clergy had become owners of a very large part 
of the most fertile soil of the realm. No farms, herds of cattle, or 
flocks of sheep compared with theirs. These lands were said to 
be in mortmain, or " dead hands " ; since the church, being a 
corporation, never let go its hold, but kept its property with the 
tenacity of a dead man's grasp. The clergy constantly strove to 
get these church lands exempted from furnishing soldiers, or pay- 
ing taxes to the king. Instead of men or money they offered 
prayers. Practically, the government succeeded from time to time 
in compelling them to do considerably more than this, but seldom 
without a violent struggle, as in the case of Henry II. and Becket. 
On account of these exemptions it had become the practice with 
many persons who wished to escape bearing their just share of the 
support of the government, to give their lands to the church, and 
then receive them again as tenants of some abbot or bishop. In 
this way they evaded their military and pecuniary obligations to 
the crown. To put a stop to this practice, and so make all landed 
proprietors do their part, a law was passed 1 requiring the donor of 
an estate to the church to obtain a royal license ; which it is 
perhaps needless to say was not readily granted. 2 

279. Death of Edward. — Edward died while endeavoring to 
subdue a revolt in Scotland, in which Robert Bruce, grandson of 
the first of that name, had seized the throne. His last request 
was that his son Edward should continue the war. " Carry my 
bones before you on your march," said the dying king, " for the 
rebels will not be able to endure the sight of me, alive or dead ! " 

1 Statute of Mortmain, 1279. 

2 See note on Clergy, Paragraph No. 200. 



THE ANGEVINS, OR PLANTAGENETS. 121 

280. Summary. — During Edward I.'s reign, the following 
changes took place : — 

i. Wales and Scotland were conquered, and the first remained 
permanently a part of the English kingdom. 

2„ The landed proprietors of the whole country were made 
more directly responsible to the crown. 

3. The excessive growth of church property was checked. 

4. Laws for the better suppression of acts of violence were 
enacted and rigorously enforced. 

5. The Great Charter, with additional articles for the protection 
of the people, was confirmed by the king, and the power of taxation 
expressly acknowledged to reside in Parliament only. 

6. Parliament, a legislative body now representing all classes of 
the nation, was permanently organized, and for the first time regu- 
larly and frequently summoned by the king. 1 



EDWARD II.— 1307-1327. 

281. Accession and Character. — The son to whom Edward 
left his power was in every respect his opposite. The old defini- 
tion of the word "king," was " the man who can" or the able man. 
The modern explanation usually makes him " the chief or head of 
a people." Edward II. would satisfy neither of these definitions. 
He lacked all disposition to do anything himself; he equally 
lacked power to incite others to do. By nature he was a jester, 
trifler, and waster of time. Being such, it is hardly necessary to 
say that he did not push the war with Scotland. Robert Bruce 
did not expect that he would ; that valiant fighter, indeed, held the 
new English sovereign in utter contempt, saying that he feared the 
dead father much more than the living son. 

1 It will be remembered that De Montforfs Parliament, in 1265, was not regu- 
larly and legally summoned, since the king (Henry III.) was at that lime a captive. 
The first Parliament (including a House of Commons, Lords, and Clergy) which 
was convened by the crown, was that calfed by Edward I. in 1295, 



122 LEADING FACTS OF ENGLISH HISTORY. 

282. Piers Gaveston; the Lords Ordainers. — During the 
first five years of his reign, Edward did little more than lavish 

' wealth and honors on his chief favorite and adviser, Piers Gaveston, 
a Frenchman who had been his companion and playfellow from 
childhood. While Edward I. was living, Parliament had with his 
sanction banished Gaveston from the kingdom, as a man of corrupt 
practices, but Edward II. was no sooner crowned, than he recalled 
him, and gave him the government of the realm during his ab- 
sence in France, on the occasion of his marriage. On his return, 
the barons protested against the monopoly of privileges by a for- 
eigner, and the king was obliged to consent to his banishment. 
He soon came back, however, and matters went on from bad to 
worse. Finally, the indignation of the nobles rose to such a pitch, 
that at the council held at Westminster the government was virtu- 
ally taken from the king's hands and vested in a # body of barons 
and bishops. The head of this committee was the king's cousin, 
the Earl of Lancaster ; and from the ordinance which they drew 
up for the management of affairs they got the name of the Lords 
Ordainers. Gaveston was now sent out of the country for a third 
time ; but the king persuaded him to return, and gave him the 
office of secretary of state. This last insult — ■ for so the Lords Or- 
dainers regarded it — was too much for the nobility to bear. They 
resolved to exile the hated favorite once more, but this time to 
send him " to that country from which no traveller returns." Ed- 
ward taking the alarm, placed Gaveston in Scarborough Castle 1 
for safety. The barons besieged it, starved Gaveston into surren- 
der, and beheaded him forthwith. Thus ended the first favorite. 

283. Scotland regains its Independence. — Seeing Edward's 
lack of manly fibre, Robert Bruce, who had been crowned king of 
the Scots, determined to make himself ruler in fact as well as in 
name. He had suffered many defeats ; he had wandered a fugitive 
in forests and glens ; he had been hunted with bloodhounds like a 
wild beast ; but he had never lost courage or hope. On the field 

1 Scarborough : on t\fb coast of Yorkshire. 



THE ANGEVINS, OR PLANTAGENETS. 123 

of Bannockburn he once again met the English, and in a bloody 
and decisive battle drove them back like frightened sheep into 
their own country. By this victory, Bruce re-established the in- 
dependence of Scotland — an independence which continued until 
the rival kingdoms were peaceably united under one crown, by the 
accession of a Scotch king to the English throne. 1 

284. The New Favorites ; the King made Prisoner. — For the 

next seven years the Earl of Lancaster had his own way in Eng- 
land. During this time Edward, whose weak nature needed some 
one to lean on, had got two new favorites, — Hugh Despenser and 
his son. They were men of more character than Gaveston ; but as 
they cared chiefly for their own interests, they incurred the hatred 
of the baronage. 

The king's wife, Isabelle of France, now turned against him. 
She had formerly acted as a peacemaker, but from this time did 
all in her power to the contrary. Roger Mortimer, one of the 
leaders of the barons, was the sworn enemy of the Despensers. 
The queen had formed a guilty attachment for him. Together 
they plotted the ruin of Edward and his favorites. They raised a 
force, seized and executed the Despensers, and then took the king 
prisoner. 

285. Deposition and Murder of the King. — Having im- 
prisoned Edward in Kenilworth Castle, 2 the barons now resolved to 
remove him from the throne. Parliament drew up articles of 
deposition against him, and appointed commissioners to demand 
his resignation of the crown. When they went to the castle, 
Edward appeared before them clad in deep mourning. Pres- 
ently he sank fainting to the floor. On his recovery he burst into 
a fit of weeping. Then, checking himself, he thanked Parliament 
through the commissioners for having chosen his eldest son 
Edward, a boy of fourteen, to rule over the nation. 

Judge Trussel then stepped forward and said : " Unto thee, O 

1 James VI. of Scotland and I. of England, in 1603. 

2 Kenilworth Castle, Warwickshire. 



124 LEADING FACTS OF ENGLISH HISTORY. 

king, I, William Trussel, in the name of all men of this land of 
England and speaker of this Parliament, renounce to you, Edward, 
the homage [oath of allegiance] that was made to you some time ; 
and from this time forth I defy thee and deprive thee of all royal 
power, and I shall never be attendant on thee as king from this 
time." 

Then Sir Thomas Blount, steward of the king's household, 
advanced, broke his staff of office before the king's face, and 
proclaimed the royal household dissolved. 

Edward was soon after committed to Berkeley Castle, 1 in Glou- 
cestershire. There, by the order of Mortimer, with the con- 
nivance of queen Isabelle, the "she-wolf of France," who acted 
as his companion in iniquity, the king was secretly and horribly 
murdered. 

286. Summary. — The lesson of Edward II. 's career is found 
in its culmination. Other sovereigns had been guilty of misgov- 
ernment, others had had unworthy and grasping favorites, but he 
was the first whom Parliament had deposed. By that act it became 
evident that great as was the power of the king, there had now 
come into existence a greater still, which could not only make but 
unmake him who sat on the throne. 

EDWARD III. — 1327-137? 

287. Edward's Accession ; Execution of Mortimer. — Edward 
III., son of Edward II., was crowned at fourteen. Until he became 
of age, the government was nominally in the hands of a council, 
but really in the control of Queen Isabelle and her " gentle Morti- 
mer," the two murderers of his, father. Early in his reign Edward 
attempted to reconquer Scotland, but failing in his efforts, made a 
peace acknowledging the independence of that country. At home, 

i Berkeley Castle continues in the possession of the Berkeley family. It is con- 
sidered one of the finest examples of feudal architecture now remaining in England. 
Over the stately structure still floats the standard borne in the crusades by an an- 
cestor of the present Lord Berkeley. 



THE ANGEVINS, OR PLANTAGENETS. 1 25 

however, he now gained a victory which compensated him for his 
disappointment in not subduing the Scots. 

Mortimer was staying with Queen Isabelle at Nottingham Castle. 
Edward obtained entrance by a secret passage, carried him off 
captive, and soon after brought him to the gallows. He next 
seized his mother, the queen, and kept her in confinement for 
the rest of her life in Castle Rising, Norfolk. 

288. The Rise of English Commerce. — The reign of Edward 
III. is directly connected with the rise of a flourishing commerce 
with the continent. In the early ages of its history England was 
almost wholly an agricultural country. At length the farmers in 
the eastern counties began to turn their attention to wool-grow- 
ing. "They exported the fleeces, which were considered the finest 
in the world, to the Flemish cities of Ghent and Bruges, where 
they were woven into cloth, and returned to be sold in the English 
market ; for, as an old writer quaintly remarks, " the English peo- 
ple at that time knew no more what to do with the wool, than 
the sheep on whose backs it grew." 1 Through the influence of 
Edward's wife, Queen Philippa, who was a native of a province 
adjoining Flanders, 2 which was also extensively engaged in the 
production of cloth, woollen factories were now established at 
Norwich and other towns in the East of England. Skilled Flemish 
workmen were induced to come over, and by their help England 
successfully laid the foundation of one of her greatest and most 
lucrative industries. From that time wool was considered a chief 
source of the national wealth. Later, that the fact might be kept 
constantly in mind, a square crimson bag filled with it — the 
" Woolsack " — became, and still continues to be, the seat of 
the Lord Chancellor in the House of Lords. 



1 Fuller. This remark applies to the production of fine woollens only. The 
English had long manufactured common grades of woollen cloth, though not in 
any large quantity. 

2 Flanders : a part of the Netherlands or Low Countries. The latter then em- 
braced Holland, Belgium, and a portion of Northern France. 



126 LEADING FACTS OF ENGLISH HISTORY. 

289. The Beginning of the Hundred Years' War (1338).— 

Indirectly, this trade between England and Flanders helped to 
bring on a war of such duration, that it received the name of the 
Hundred Years' War. Flanders was at that time a dependency 
of France ; but the great commercial towns were rapidly rising in 
power, and were restive and rebellious under the exactions and 
extortion of their feudal master, Count Louis. Their business 
interests bound them strongly to England ; and they were anxious to 
form an alliance with Edward against Philip VI. of France, who was 
determined to bring the Flemish cities into absolute subjection. 

Philip was by no means unwilling to begin hostilities with Eng- 
land. He had long looked with a greedy eye on the tract of 
country south of the Loire, 1 which remained in possession of the 
English kings ; and only wanted a pretext for annexing it. Through 
his alliance with Scotland, he was threatening to attack Edward's 
kingdom on the north, while for some time his war-vessels had 
been seizing English ships laden with wool, so that intercourse 
with Flanders was maintained with difficulty and peril. 

Edward remonstrated in vain against these outrages. At length, 
having concluded an alliance with Ghent, the chief Flemish city, 
he boldly claimed the crown of France as his lawful right, 2 and 

1 Aquitaine (with the exception of Poitou). At a later period the province got 
the nante of Guienne, which was a part of it. See Map No. 8, page 88. 

2 Claim of Edward III. to the French Crown. 

Philip III. (of France)* 
(i 270-1 285) 



I 1 

Philip IV. Charles, Count of 

(1285-1314) Valois, d. 1325. 

I g I [ — Philip VI. 

Louis X. Philip V. Charles IV. Isabelle (of Valois) 

(1314-1316) (1316-1322) (1322-1328) m. Edward (1328-1350) 

I II. of England. | 

John I. I John U. 

(15 N0V.-19 Edward III. (1350-1364) 

Nov. 1316) of England, 1327. 

* The heavy lines indicate the direct succession. See note on next page- 



THE ANGEVINS, OR PLANTAGENETS. 127 

followed the demand with a declaration of war. Edward based 
his claim on the fact that through his mother Isabelle he was 
nephew to the late French king, Charles IV., whereas the reigning 
monarch was only cousin. Nothing in the law of France justified 
the English sovereign in his extravagant pretensions, though, as 
we have seen, he had good cause for attacking Philip on other 
grounds. 

290. Battle of Crecy 1 (1346). — For the next eight years, fight- 
ing between the two countries was going on pretty constantly on 
both land and sea, but without decisive results. Edward was 
pressed for money, and had to resort to all sorts of expedients to 
get it, even to pawning his own and the queen's crown, to raise 
enough to pay his troops. At last he succeeded in equipping a 
strong force, and with his son Edward, a lad of fifteen, invaded 
Normandy. 2 

His plan seems to have been to attack the French army in the 
South of France ; but after landing he changed his mind, and 
determined to ravage Normandy, and then march north to 
meet his Flemish allies, who were advancing to join him. At 
Cr£cy, near the coast, on the way to Calais, a desperate battle 
took place. The French had the larger force, but Edward the 
better position. Philip's army included a number of hired Genoese 
cross-bowmen, on whom he placed great dependence; but a 
thunder-storm had wet their bowstrings, which rendered them 
nearly useless, and, as they advanced toward the English, the 

When, in 1328, Charles IV. of France died without leaving a son, his cousin, 
Philip of Valois, succeeded him as Philip VI. (the French law excluding females 
from the throne). Edward III. of England claimed the crown, because through 
his mother Isabelle he was nephew to the late king, Charles IV. The French re- 
plied, with truth, that his claim was worthless, since he could not inherit from one 
who could not herself have ascended the throne. 

1 Crecy (kray-see). 

2 He landed near Cherbourg, opposite the Isle of Wight, crossed the Seine not 
very far below Paris, — the bridges having been destroyed up to that point, — and 
then marched for Calais by way of Crecy, a village near the mouth of the river 
Somme. See Map No. 9, page 130. 



128 LEADING FACTS OF ENGLISH HISTORY. 

afternoon sun shone so brightly in their eyes, that they could not 
take accurate aim. The English archers, on the other hand, had 
kept their long-bows in their cases, so that the strings were dry 
and ready for action. 

In the midst of the fight, the Earl of Warwick, who was hard 
pressed by the enemy, became alarmed for the safety of young 
Prince Edward. He sent to the king, asking reinforcements. 
" Is my son killed? " asked the king. " No, sire, please God ! " 
" Is he wounded? " " No, sire." " Is he thrown to the ground? " 
" No, sire ; but he is in great danger." " Then," said the king, 
" I shall send no aid. Let the boy win his spurs ; ! for I wish, if 
God so order it, that the honor of the victory shall be his." The 
father's wish was gratified. From that time the " Black Prince," 
as the French called him, from the color of his armor, became a 
name renowned throughout Europe. The battle, however, was 
gained, not by his bravery or that of the nobles who supported 
him, but by the sturdy English yeomen, who shot their keen 
white arrows so thick and fast, and with such deadly aim, that a 
writer who was present on the field compared them to a shower 
of snow. It was that fatal snow-storm which won the day. 2 

291. Use of Cannon; Chivalry. — At Cr£cy small cannon 
appear to have been used for the first time, though gunpowder 
was probably known to the English monk, Roger Bacon, many years 
before. The object of the cannon was to frighten and annoy the 

1 Spurs were the especial badge of knighthood. It was expected of every one 
who attained that honor that he should do some deed of valor ; this was called 
"winning his spurs." 

2 The English yeomen, or country people, excelled in the use of the long-bow. 
They probably learned its value from their Norman conquerors, who employed it 
with great effect at the battle of Hastings. Writing at a much later period Bishop 
Latimer said : " In my tyme my poore father was as diligent to teach me to shote 
as to learne anye other thynge. * * * He taught me how to drawe, how to laye my 
bodye in my bowe, and not to drawe wyth strength of armes as other nacions do, 
but with strength of the bodye. I had bowes boughte me accordyng to my age and 
strength; as I encreased in them, so my bowes were made bigger, and bigger, for 
men shal neuer shot well, excepte they be broughte up in it." The advantage of this 
weapon over the steel cross-bow (used by the Genoese) lay in the fact that it could 



THE ANGEVINS, OR PLANTAGENETS. I2g 

horses of the French cavalry. They were laughed at as ingenious 
toys; but in the course of the next two centuries those toys 
revolutionized warfare and made the steel-clad knight little more 
than a tradition and a name. 

In its day, however, knighthood did the world good service. 
Chivalry aimed to make the profession of arms a noble instead 
of a brutal calling. It gave it somewhat of a religious charac- 
ter. It taught the warrior the worth of honor, truthfulness, and 
courtesy, as well as valor — qualities which still survive in the best 
type of the modern gentleman. We owe, therefore, no small debt 
to that military brotherhood of the past, and may join the English 
poet in his epitaph 'on the order : — 

"The Knights are dust, 
Their good swords rust; 
Their souls are with the saints, we trust." l 

292. Calais taken. — Edward now marched against Calais. 
He was particularly anxious to take the place, since its situation 
as a fortified port on the Strait of Dover, within sight of the chalk 
cliffs of England, would, if he captured it, give him at all times 
" an open doorway into France." 

After besieging it for nearly a year, the garrison was starved 
into submission and prepared to open the gates. Edward was 
so exasperated with the stubborn resistance the town had made, 
that he resolved to put the entire population to the sword, but 
consented at last to spare them, on condition that six of the chief 
men should give themselves up to be hanged. 

be discharged much more rapidly; the latter being a cumbrous affair, which had 
to be wound up with a crank for each shot. Hence the English long-bow was to 
that age what the revolver is to ours. It sent an arrow with such force that only 
the best armor could withstand it. The French peasantry at that period had no 
skill with this weapon ; and about the only part they took in a battle was to stab 
horses and despatch wounded men. 

Scott, in the Archery Contest in Ivanhoe (Chap. XIII.) has given an excellent 
picture of the English bowman. 

1 Coleridge (altered by Scott ?), The Knight's Tomb. 



130 LEADING FACTS OF ENGLISH HISTORY. 

A meeting was called, and St. Pierre, the wealthiest citizen of 
the place, volunteered, with five others, to go forth and die. 

Bareheaded, barefooted, with halters round their necks, they 
silently went out, carrying the keys of the city. When they 
appeared before the English king, he ordered the executioner, 
who was standing by, to seize them and carry out the sentence 
forthwith ; but Queen Philippa, who had accompanied her hus- 
band, now fell on her knees before him, and with tears, begged 
that they might be forgiven. For a long time Edward was inex- 
orable, but finally, unable to resist her entreaties, he granted her 
request, and the men who had dared to face death for others, 
found life both for themselves and their fellow-citizens. 1 

293. Victory of Poitiers 2 (1356). — After a long truce, war 
again broke out. Philip VI. had died, and his son, John II., now 
sat on the French throne. Edward, during this campaign, ravaged 
Northern France. The next year his son, the Black Prince, marched 
from Bordeaux into the heart of the country. 

Reaching Poitiers 3 with a force of ten thousand men, he 
found himself nearly surrounded by a French army of sixty thou- 
sand. He so placed his troops amidst the narrow lanes and vine- 
yards, that the enemy could not attack him with their full strength. 
Again the English archers gained the day, and King John himself 
was taken prisoner and carried in triumph to England. 

294. Peace of Bre'tigny 4 (1360). — The victory of Poitiers was 
followed by another truce; then war began again. Edward in- 
tended besieging Paris, but was forced to retire to obtain provisions 
for his troops. Negotiations were now opened by the French. 
While they were going on, a terrible thunder-storm destroyed 
great numbers of men and horses in Edward's camp. Edward, 
believing it a sign of the displeasure of Heaven against his expedi- 
tion, fell on his knees, and within sight of the Cathedral of Chartres 

1 See Froissart's Chronicles. 

2 Poitiers (Pwa-te-a'), nearly like Pwi-te-a'. 

8 Poitiers, near a southern branch of the Loire. See Map No. g, page 130. 
4 Bretigny (bray-teen-yee'). 



No. 9. 




To face page 130. 



THE ANGEVINS, OR PLANTAGENETS. 131 

vowed to make peace. A treaty was accordingly signed at Bretigny 
near by. By it, Edward renounced all claim to Normandy and 
the French crown. 1 France, on the other hand, acknowledged 
the right of England, in full sovereignty, to the country south of 
the Loire, together with Calais, and agreed to pay an enormous 
ransom in gold for the restoration of King John. d^-~ 

295. Effects of the French Wars in England. — The great 
gain to England from these wars was not in the territory con- 
quered, but in the new feeling of unity they aroused among all 
classes. For generations afterward, the memory of the brave 
deeds achieved in those fierce contests on a foreign soil made the 
glory of the Black Prince, whose rusty helmet and dented shield 
still hang above his tomb in Canterbury Cathedral,' 2 one with the 
glory of the plain bowmen, whose names are found only in country 
churchyards. 

Henceforth, whatever lingering feeling of jealousy and hatred 
had remained in England, between the Norman and the English- 
man, now gradually melted away in an honest patriotic pride, 
which made both feel that at last they had become a united and 
homogeneous people. 

The second effect of the wars was political. In order to carry 
them on, the king had to apply constantly to Parliament for money. 
Each time that body granted a supply, they insisted on some re- 
form which increased their strength, and brought the crown more 
and more under the influence of the nation. 

Thus it came to be clearly understood, that though the king 
held the sword, the people held the purse ; and that the ruler who 
made the greatest concessions got the largest grants. 

It was also in this reign that the House^of Commons, which 



1 Eat the title of " King of France " was retained by English sovereigns down to 
a late period of the reign of George III. 

2 These are probably the oldest accoutrements of the kind existing in Great 
Britain. The shield is of embossed leather stretched over a wooden frame, and is 
almost as hard as metal ; the helmet is of iron. See Stothard's Monumental Effigies. 



132 LEADING FACTS OF ENGLISH HISTORY. 

now sat as a separate body, and not, as at first, with the Lords, 1 
obtained the important power of impeaching, or bringing to trial 
hefore the Upper House, any of the king's ministers or council 
guilty of misgovernment. 

About this time, also, statutes were passed which forbade appeals 
from the king's courts of justice to that of the Pope, 2 who was 
then a Frenchman, and was believed to be under French political 
influence. 

All foreign church officials were prohibited from taking money 
from the English church, or interfering in any way with its 
management. 3 

296. The Black Death. — Shortly after the first campaign in 
France, a frightful pestilence broke out in London, which swept 
over the country, destroying upwards of half the population. The 
disease, which was known as the Black Death, 4 had already trav- 
ersed Europe, where it had proved equally fatal. "How many 
amiable young persons," said an Italian writer of that period, 5 
" breakfasted with their friends in the morning, who, when evening 
came, supped with their ancestors." In Bristol and some other 
English cities, the mortality was so great that the living were 
hardly able to bury the dead; so that all business, and, for a 
time even war, came to a standstill. 

297. Effect of the Plague on Labor. — After the pestilence 
had subsided, it was impossible to find laborers enough to till the 
soil and shear the sheep. Those who were free now demanded 
higher wages, while the villeins and slaves left their masters, and 
roamed about the country asking pay for their work, like freemen. 

It was a general agricultural strike which lasted over thirty years. 

1 The knights of the shire, or country gentlemen, now took their seats with the 
House of Commons, and as they were men of property and influence, this greatly 
increased the power of the representatives of the people in Parliament. 

2 First Statute of Praemunire. 
8 Statute of Provisors. 

4 Black Death : so called from the black spots it produced on the skills 
£ Boccaccio. Decameron. 



THE ANGEVINS, OR PLANTAGENETS. 1 33 

It marks the beginning of that contest between capital and labor 
which had such an important influence in the next reign, and 
which, after a lapse of five hundred years, is not yet satisfactorily 
adjusted. 

Parliament endeavored to restore order. They passed laws for- 
bidding any freeman from asking more for a day's work than before 
the plague. They gave the master the right to punish a serf who 
persisted in running away, by branding him on the forehead with 
the letter " F," for fugitive. But legislation was all in vain ; the 
movement had begun, and parliamentary statutes could no more 
stop it than they could stop the ocean tide. It continued to go 
on until it reached, its climax in the peasant insurrection led by 
Wat Tyler under Edward's successor, Richard II. 

298. Beginning of English Literature. — During Edward's 
reign the first work in English prose was written. It was a volume 
of travels by Sir John Mandeville, who had journeyed in the East 
for over thirty years. On his return he wrote an account of what 
he had heard and seen, first in Latin, that the learned might read 
it ; next in French, that the nobles might read it ; and lastly in Eng- 
glish for the common people. He dedicated the work to the 
king. Perhaps the most interesting and wonderful thin^ in it was 
the statement of his belief that the world is a globe, and that a 
ship may sail round it " above and beneath," — an assertion which 
probably seemed to those who read it then as less credible than 
any of the marvellous stories in which his book abounds. 

William Langland was writing rude verses about his " vision of 
Piers the Plowman," contrasting "the wealth and woe" of the 
world, and so helping forward that democratic outbreak which 
was soon to take place among those who knew the woe and wanted 
the wealth. John WyclirTe, a lecturer at Oxford, attacked the rich 
and indolent churchmen in a series of tracts and sermons, while 
Chaucer, who had fought on the fields of France, was preparing 
to bring forth the first great poem in our language. 1 

1 Wycliffe and Chaucer will appear more prominently in the next reign. 



134 LEADING FACTS OF ENGLISH HISTORY. 

299. Edward's Death. — The king's last days were far from 
happy. His son, the Black Prince, had died, and Edward fell into 
the hands of selfish favorites and ambitious schemers. The worst 
of these was a woman named Alice Perrers, who, after Queen Phil- 
ippa was no more, got almost absolute control of the king. She 
stayed with him until his last sickness. When his eyes began to 
glaze in death, she plucked the rings from his unresisting hands, 
and fled from the palace. 

300. Summary a — During this reign the following events de- 
serve especial notice : — 

i. The acknowledgment of the independence of Scotland. 

2. The establishment of the manufacture of fine woollens in 
England. 

3. The beginning of the Hundred Years' War, with the victories 
of Crecy, and Poitiers, the Peace of Bretigny, and their social 
and political results in England. 

4. The Black Death and its results on labor. 

5. The partial emancipation of the English church from the 
power of Rome. 

6. The rise of modern literature, represented b> the works of 
Mandeville, Langland, and the early writings of Wycliffe and 
Chaucer. 

RICHARD II. — 1377-1399. 

301. England at Richard's Accession. — The death of the 
Black Prince left his son Richard heir to the crown. As he was 
but eleven years old, Parliament provided that the government 
during his minority should be carried on by a council ; but John 
of Gaunt, Duke of Lancaster, speedily got the control of affairs. 1 
He was an unprincipled man, who wasted the nation's money, 
opposed reform, and was especially hated by the laboring classes. 
The times were critical. War had again broken out with both 
Scotland and France, the French fleet was raiding the English 

1 John of Gaunt (a corruption of Ghent, his birthplace) : he was a younger 
brother of Edward the Black Prince. 



THE ANGEVINS, OR PLANTAGENETS. 135 

coast, the national treasury had no money to pay its troops, and 
the government debt was rapidly accumulating. 

302. The New Tax; Tyler and Ball.— To raise money, it 
was resolved to levy a new form of tax, — a poll or head tax, — 
which had first been tried on a small scale during the last year of 
the previous reign. The attempt had been made to assess it on 
all classes, from laborers to lords. This imposition was now re- 
newed in a much more oppressive form. Not only every laborer, 
but every member of a laborer's family above the age of fifteen, 
was required to pay what would be equal to the wages of an able- 
bodied man for at least several days' work. 1 

We have already seen that, owing to the ravages of the Black 
Death, and the strikes which followed, the country was on the 
verge of revolt. This new tax was the spark that caused the 
explosion. The money was roughly demanded in every poor 
man's cottage, and its collection caused the greatest distress. In 
attempting to enforce payment, a brutal collector shamefully in- 
sulted the young daughter of a workman named Wat Tyler. The 
indignant father, hearing the girl's cry for help, snatched up a 
hammer, and rushing in, struck the ruffian dead on the spot. 

Tyler then collected a multitude of discontented serfs and free 
laborers on Blackheath Common, near London, with the determi- 
nation of attacking the city and overthrowing the government. 

John Ball, a fanatical priest, harangued the gathering, now sixty 
thousand strong, using by way of a text lines which were at that 
time familiar to every workingman : — 

" When Adam delved and Eve span, 
Who was then the gentleman?" 

" Good people " he cried, "'things will never go well in Eng- 
land so long as goods be not in common, and so long as there be 

1 The tax on laborers and their families varied from four to twelve pence each, 
the assessor having instructions to collect the latter sum, if possible. The wages of 
a day-laborer were then about a penny, so that the smallest tax for a family of three 
would represent the entire pay for nearly a fortnight's labor. See Pearson's Eng- 
land in the Fourteenth Century. 



I36* LEADING FACTS OF ENGLISH HISTORY. 

villeins and gentlemen. They call us slaves, and beat us if we are 
slow to do their bidding, but God has now given us the day to 
shake off our bondage." 

303. The Outbreak General; Violence in London. — Twenty 

years before there had been similar outbreaks in Flanders and in 
France. This therefore was not an isolated instance of insurrec- 
tion, but rather part of a general uprising. The rebellion begun 
by Tyler and Ball spread through the southern and eastern coun- 
ties of England, taking different forms in different districts. It 
was violent in St. Albans, where the serfs rose against the exac- 
tions of the abbot, but it reached its greatest height in London. 

For three weeks the mob held possession of the capital. They 
pillaged and then burned John of Gaunt's palace. They seized 
and beheaded the Lord Chancellor and the chief collector of the 
odious poll-tax, destroyed all the law papers they could lay hands 
on, and ended by murdering a number of lawyers ; members of 
that profession being particularly obnoxious because they, as the 
rioters believed, forged the chains by which the laboring class 
were held in subjection. 

304. Demands of the Rebels; End of the Rebellion. —The 

insurrectionists demanded of the king that villeinage should be 
abolished, that the rent of agricultural lands should be fixed by 
Parliament at a uniform rate in money, that trade should be free, 
and that a general unconditional pardon should be granted to all 
who had taken part in the rebellion. Richard promised redress ; 
but while negotiations were going on, Walworth, mayor of London, 
struck down Tyler with his dagger, and with his death the whole 
movement collapsed almost as suddenly as it arose. Parliament 
now began a series of merciless executions, and refused to consider 
any of the claims which Richard had shown a disposition to listen 
to. In their punishment of the rebels the House of Commons 
vied with the Lords in severity, few showing any sympathy with 
the efforts of the peasants to obtain their freedom from feudal 
bondage. The uprising, however, was not in vain, for by it the 



THE ANGEVINS, OR PLANTAGENETS. I37 

old restrictions were in some degree loosened, so that in the 
course of the next century and a half villeinage was gradually 
abolished, and the English laborer acquired that greatest yet most 
perilous of all rights, the complete ownership of himself. 1 So 
long as he was a serf, the peasant could claim assistance from his 
master in sickness and old age ; in attaining independence he had 
to risk the danger of pauperism, which began with it — this possi- 
bility being part of the price which man must everywhere pay for 
the inestimable privilege of freedom. 

305. The New Movement in Literature. — The same spirit 
which demanded emancipation on the part of the working classes 
showed itself in literature. We have already seen how, in the 
previous reign, Langland, in his poem of " Piers Plowman," gave 
bold utterance to the growing discontent of the times in his decla- 
ration that the rich and great destroyed the poor. In a different 
spirit Chaucer, " the morning-star of English song," now began to 
write his " Canterbury Tales," a series of stories in verse, sup- 
posed to be told by a merry band of pilgrims on their way from 
the Tabard-Inn, Southwark, 2 to the shrine of St. Thomas Becket 
in Canterbury. 

There is little of Langland's complaint in Chaucer, for he was 
generally a favorite at court, seeing mainly the bright side of 
life, and sure of his yearly allowance of money and daily pitcher 
of wine from the royal bounty. Yet, with all his mirth, there is a 
vein of playful satire in his description of men and things ; and 
his pictures of jolly monks and easy-going churchmen, with his 
lines addressed to his purse " as his saviour down in this world 
here," show that he too was thinking, at least at times, of the 
manifold evils of poverty and of that danger springing from reli- 
gious indifference which poor Langland had taken so much to 
heart. 

1 In Scotland villeinage lasted much longer, and so late as 1774, in the reign of 
George III., men working in coal and salt mines were held in a species of slavery, 
which was finally abolished the following year. 

2 Southwark : see note to Paragraph No. 153. 



I38 LEADING FACTS OF ENGLISH HISTORY. 

306. Wycliffe; The First English Bible. — But the real re- 
former of that day was John Wycliffe, rector of Lutterworth and 
lecturer at Oxford. He boldly attacked both the religious and 
political corruption of the age. The mendicant friars who at an 
earlier period had done such good work had now grown too rich 
and lazy to be of further use. Wycliffe organized a new band of 
brothers, known as " Poor Priests," to take up and push forward 
the reforms the friars had dropped. Clothed in red sackcloth 
cloaks, barefooted, with staff in hand, they went about from town 
to town 1 preaching " God's law," and demanding that church and 
state bring themselves into harmony with it. 

The only Bible then in use was the Latin version. The people 
could not read a line of it, and many priests were almost as igno- 
rant of its contents. To carry on the revival which he had begun, 
Wycliffe now translated the Scriptures into English. The work 
was copied and circulated by the " Poor Priests." But the cost 
of such a book in manuscript — for the printing-press had not yet 
come into existence — was so great that only the rich could buy 
the complete volume. Many, however, who had no money would 
give a load of farm produce for a few favorite chapters. In this 
way Wycliffe's translation was spread throughout the country among 
all classes. 2 Later, when persecution began, men hid these pre- 
cious copies and read them with locked doors at night, or met in 
the forests to hear them expounded by preachers who went about 
at the peril of their lives, so that the complaint was made by 
Wycliffe's enemies " that common men and women who could 
read were better acquainted with the Scriptures than the most 
learned and intelligent of the clergy." 

1 Compare Chaucer's 

*' A good man ther was of religloun, 
That was a poure persone [parson] of a town." 

Prologue to the Canterbury Tales (479V 

2 The great number of copies sent out is shown by the fact that after the lapse 
of five hundred years, one hundred and sixty-five, more or less complete, are still 
preserved in England. 



THE ANGEVINS, OR PLANTAGENETS. 1 39 

307. The Lollards; Wycliffe's Remains burned. —The fol- 
lowers of Wycliffe eventually became known as Lollards, or Psalm- 
singers. 1 From having been religious reformers denouncing the 
wealth and greed of a corrupt church, they would seem, at least 
in many cases, to have degenerated into socialists or communists, 
demanding, like John Ball, — who may have been one of their 
number, — that all property should be equally divided, and that 
all rank should be abolished. This fact should be borne in mind 
with reference to the subsequent efforts made by the government 
to suppress the movement. In the eye of the church, the Lollards 
were heretics ; in the judgment of many moderate men, they were 
destructionists and anarchists, as unreasonable and as dangerous 
as the " dynamiters " of to-day. 

By a decree of the church council of Constance, 2 forty-four years 
after Wycliffe's death the reformer's body was dug up and burned. 
But his influence had not only permeated England, but had passed 
to the continent, and was preparing the way for that greater move- 
ment which Luther was to inaugurate in the sixteenth century. 
Tradition says that the ashes of his corpse were thrown into a 
brook flowing near the parsonage of Lutterworth, the object being 
to utterly destroy and obliterate the remains of the arch-heretic, 
but, as Fuller says, "this brook did convey his ashes into the 
Avon, Avon into Severn, Severn into the narrow sea, and that into 
the wide ocean. And so the ashes of Wycliffe are the emblem of 
his doctrine, which is now dispersed all the world over." 8 

308. Richard's Misgovernment. — Richard's reign was unpop- 
ular with all classes. The people hated him for his extravagance ; 

1 Or "Babblers." 

2 Constance, Southern Germany. This Council (1415) sentenced John Huss 
and Jerome of Prague, both of whom may be considered Wycliffites, to the stake. 

3 Fuller's Church History of Britain. Compare also Wordsworth's Sonnet to 
Wycliffe, and the lines, attributed to an unknown writer of Wycliffe's time : — 

" The Avon to the Severn runs, 
The Severn to the sea; 
And Wycliffe's dust shall spread abroad, 
Wide as the waters be." 



140 LEADING FACTS OF ENGLISH HISTORY. 

the clergy, for his failing to put down the Wycliffites, with the doc- 
trines of whose founder he was believed to sympathize ; while the 
nobles disliked his injustice and favoritism. Some political re- 
forms were attempted, which were partially successful; but the 
king soon regained his power, and took summary vengeance on 
the leaders, besides imposing heavy fines on the counties which 
had supported them. Two influential men were left, Thomas 
Mowbray, Duke of Norfolk, and Henry Bolingbroke, Duke of 
Hereford, whom he had found no opportunity to punish. After a 
time they openly quarrelled, and accused each other of treason. 
A challenge passed between them, and they were to fight the mat- 
ter out in the king's presence ; but when the day arrived, and they 
came ready for the combat, the king banished both from England. 
Shortly after they had left the country Bolingbroke's father, John 
of Gaunt, Duke of Lancaster, died. Contrary to all law, Richard 
now seized and appropriated the estate, which belonged by right 
to the banished nobleman. 

309. Richard deposed and murdered. — When Bolingbroke, 
who was now by his father's death Duke of Lancaster, heard of 
the outrage, he raised a small force and returned to England, 
demanding the restitution of his lands. 

Finding that the powerful family of the Percies were willing to 
aid him, and that many of the common people desired a change 
of government, the duke now boldly claimed the crown, on the 
ground that Richard had forfeited it by his tyranny, and that he 
stood next in succession (through his descent from Henry III.). 
The king now fell into Henry's hands, and events moved rapidly 
to a crisis. Richard had rebuilt Westminster Hall. The first 
Parliament which assembled there met to depose him, and to give 
his throne to the victorious Duke of Lancaster. Shakespeare 
represents the fallen monarch saying in his humiliation, — 
" With mine own tears I wash away my balm, 1 
With mine own hand I give away my crown.'* 

i Richard II., Act IV. Sc. i. The balm was the sacred oil used in anointing 
the king at his coronation. 



THE ANGEVINS, OR PLANTAGENETS. I4I 

After his deposition Richard was confined in Pontefract Castle, 
Yorkshire, where he found, like his unfortunate ancestor Ed- 
ward II., " that in the case of princes there is but a step from the 
prison to the grave." His death did not take place, however, 
until after Henry's accession. 1 

310. Summary. — Richard II.'s reign comprised, — 

1. The peasant revolt under Wat Tyler, which led eventually to 
the emancipation of the villeins, or serfs. 

2. Wycliffe's reformation movement; his translation of the 
Latin Bible, with the rise of the Lollards. 

3. The publication of Chaucer's " Canterbury Tales," the first 
great English poem. 

4. The deposition of the king, and the transfer of the crown 
by Parliament to Henry, Duke of Lancaster. 

1 Henry of Lancaster was the son of John of Gaunt, who was the fourth son of 
Edward III.; but there were descendants of that king's third son (Lionel, Duke 
of Clarence) living, who, of course, had a prior claim, as the following table shows. 

Edward III. 

[Direct descendant of Henry III.] 
x a 3 j 4 5 

Edward, the William, d. in Lionel, Duke John of Gaunt, Edmund, 
Black Prince childhood of Clarence Duke of Lancaster Duke of 

I II York 

Richard IL Philippa, m. Henry Bolingbroke, 

Edmund Morti- Duke of Lancaster, 
mer afterward Henry 

I IV. 

Roger Mortimer, 
d. 1398-9 

Edmund Mortimer 

(heir presumptive to 

the crown after 

Richard ff.) 

This disregard of the strict order of succession furnished a pretext for the Civil 
Wars of the Roses, which broke out sixty years later. 



4-2 LEADING FACTS OF ENGLISH HISTORY. 



GENERAL VIEW OF THE ANGEVIN, OR PLANTAGENET, 
PERIOD. — 1154-1399. 

I. GOVERNMENT. — II. RELIGION. — III. MILITARY AFFAIRS. — IV. 
LITERATURE, LEARNING, AND ART. — V. GENERAL INDUSTRY AND 
COMMERCE. — VI. MODE OF LIFE, MANNERS, AND CUSTOMS. 

GOVERNMENT. 

311. Judicial Reforms. — In 1 164, Henry II. undertook, by a series 
of statutes called the Constitutions of Clarendon, to bring the church 
under the common law of the land, but was only temporarily successful. 
By subsequent statutes he reorganized the administration of justice, 
and laid the foundation of trial by jury. 

312. Town Charters. — Under Richard I. many towns secured 
charters giving them the control of their own affairs in great measure. 
In this way municipal self-government arose, and a prosperous and 
intelligent class of merchants and artisans grew up who eventually 
obtained important political influence in the management of national 
affairs. 

313. The Great, or National, Charter. — This pledge extorted 
from King John in 12 15 put a check to the arbitrary power of the sov- 
ereign, and guaranteed the rights of all classes from the serf and the 
townsman to the bishop and baron. It consisted originally of sixty- 
three articles, founded mainly on the first royal charter (that of Henry 
I.), given in 1100. (See Paragraph No. 185, and note.) 

It was not a statement of principles, but a series of specific remedies 
for specific abuses, which may be summarized as follows : — 

1. The church to be free from royal interference, especially in the 
election of bishops. 

2. No taxes except the regular feudal dues (see Paragraph No. 200), 
to be levied except by the consent of the National Council. 

3. The Court of Common Pleas (see Paragraph No. 197, note) not to 
follow the king, but remain stationary at Westminster. Justice to be 
neither sold, denied, nor delayed. No man to be imprisoned, outlawed, 
punished, or otherwise molested, save by the judgment of his equals or 



THE ANGEVINS, OR PLANTAGENETS. 143 

the law of the land. The necessary implements of all freemen, and the 
farming- tools of villeins or serfs, to be exempt from seizure. 

4. Weights and measures to be kept uniform throughout the realm. 
All merchants to have the right to enter and leave the kingdom without 
paying exorbitant tolls for the privilege. 

5. Forest laws to be justly enforced. 

6. The charter to be carried out by twenty-four barons together with 
the mayor of London. 

This document marks the beginning of a written constitution, and it 
proved of the highest value henceforth in securing good government. 
It was confirmed thirty-seven times by subsequent kings and parlia- 
ments, the confirmation of this and previous charters by Edward I. in 
1297 being of especial importance. 

314. Rise of the House of Commons. — In 1265, under Henry III., 
through the influence of Simon de Montfort, two representatives from 
each city and borough, or town, together with two knights of the shire, 
or country gentlemen, were summoned to meet with the lords and 
clergy in the National Council, or Parliament. From this time the 
body of the people began to have a voice in making the laws. Later 
in the period the knights of the shire joined the representatives from 
the towns in forming a distinct body in Parliament sitting by them- 
selves under the name of the House of Commons. They obtained the 
power of levying all taxes, and also of impeaching before the House 
of Lords any government officer guilty of misuse of power. 

315. New Class of Barons. — Under Henry III. other influential 
men of the realm, aside from the great landholders and barons by 
tenure, began to be summoned to the king's council. These were called 
"barons by writ." Later (under Richard II.), barons were created by 
open letters bearing the royal seal, and were called " barons by patent. 1 ' 1 

316. Land Laws. — During this period important laws [De Donis, 
or Entail, and Quia Emptores] respecting land were passed, which had 
the effect of keeping estates in families, and also of preventing their 
possessors from evading their feudal duties to the king. At the same 

1 This is the modern method of raising a subject {e.g., Lord Tennyson) to the 
peerage. It marks the fact that from the thirteenth century the ownership of land 
was no longer considered a necessary condition of nobility ; and that the peerage 
had now developed into the five degrees, which it still maintains, of dukes, mar- 
quises, earls, viscounts, and barons. 



144 LEADING FACTS OF ENGLISH HISTORY. 

time a restriction on the acquisition of land by the church (Statute of 
Mortmain), which was exempt from paying certain feudal dues, was 
also imposed to prevent the king's revenue from being diminished. 

RELIGION. 

317. Restriction of the Papal Power. — During the Angevin 
period the popes endeavored to introduce the canon law (a body 
of ordinances consisting mainly of the decisions of church councils 
and popes) into England, with the view of making it supreme; but 
Parliament, at Merton, refused to accept it, saying, " We will not change 
the laws of England." The Statute of Mortmain was also passed (see 
Paragraph No. 278) and other measures (Statute of Provisors and Stat- 
ute of Praemunire), which forbade the Pope from taking the appoint- 
ment of bishops and other ecclesiastics out of the hands of the clergy ; 
and which prohibited any appeal from the king's court to the papal 
court. Furthermore, many hundreds of parishes, formerly filled by 
foreigners who could not speak English, were now given to native 
priests, and the sending of money out of the country to support 
foreign ecclesiastics was in great measure stopped. 

During the crusades two religious military orders had been estab- 
lished, called the Knights Hospitallers and the Knights Templars. The 
object of the former was, originally, to provide entertainment for pil- 
grims going to Jerusalem ; that of the latter, to protect them. Both had 
extensive possessions in England. In 1312 the order of Templars was 
broken up on a charge of heresy and evil life, and their property in 
England given to the Knights Hospitallers, who were also called 
Knights of St. John. 

318. Reform. — The Mendicant Friars began a reformatory move- 
ment in the church and accomplished much good. This was followed 
by Wycliffe 1 s attack on religious abuses, by his translation of the Bible, 
with the revival carried on by the "Poor Priests," and by the rise of 
the Lollards, who were eventually punished by the passage of severe 
laws, partly on the ground of their heretical opinions, and partly be- 
cause they became in a measure identified with socialistic and commu- 
nistic efforts to destroy rank and equalize property. 

MILITARY AFFAIRS. 

319. Scutage. — By a tax called scutage, or shield-money, levied 
on all knights who refused to serve the king in foreign wars, Henry II. 



THE ANGEVINS, OR PLANT AGENETS. 1 45 

obtained the means to hire soldiers. By a law reviving the national 
militia, composed of freemen below the rank of knights, the king made 
himself in great measure independent of the barons, with respect to 
raising troops. 

320. Armor ; Heraldry. — The linked or mail armor now began to 
be superseded by that made of pieces of steel joined together so as to 
fit the body. This, when it was finally perfected, was called plate 
armor, and was both heavier and stronger than mail. 

With the introduction of plate armor and the closed helmet it became 
the custom for each knight to wear a device, called a crest, on his helmet, 
and also to have one called a coat of arms (because originally worn on 
a loose coat over the armor). This served to distinguish him from 
others, and was of practical use not only to the followers of a great 
lord, who thus knew him at a glance, but it served in time of battle to 
prevent the confusion of friend and foe. Eventually, coats of arms 
became hereditary, and the descent, and to some extent the history, 
of a family can be traced by them. In this way heraldry serves as a help 
to the knowledge of men and events. 

321. Chivalry ; Tournaments. — The profession of arms was reg- 
ulated by certain rules, by which each knight solemnly bound himself 
to serve the cause of religion and the king, and to be true, brave, and 
courteous to those of his own rank, to protect the ladies and succor 
all persons in distress. Under Edward III. chivalry reached its cul- 
mination and began to decline. One of the grotesque features of the 
attack on France was an expedition of English knights with one eye 
bandaged ; this half-blind company having vowed to partially renounce 
their sight until they did some glorious deed. The chief amusement 
of the nobles and knights was the Tournament, a mock combat fought 
on horseback, in full armor, which sometimes ended in a real battle. 
At these entertainments a lady was chosen queen, who gave prizes to 
the victors. 

322. The Use of the Long-Bow; Introduction of Cannon ; Wars. 

— The common weapon of the yeomen, or foot-soldiers, was the long- 
bow. It was made of yew-tree wood, and was of the height of the user. 
Armed with this weapon, the English soldiers proved themselves irre- 
sistible in the French wars, the French having no native archers of any 
account. 
Roger Bacon is supposed to have known the properties of gunpowder 



I46 LEADING FACTS OF ENGLISH HISTORY. 

as early as 1250, but no practical use was made of the discovery until 
the battle of Crecy, 1346, when a few very small cannon are said to 
have been employed by the English against the enemy's cavalry. Later, 
they were used to throw heavy stones in besieging castles. Still later, 
rude hand-guns came slowly into use. From this period kings gradu- 
ally began to realize the full meaning of the harmless-looking black 
grains, with whose flash and noise the Oxford monk had amused himself. 

The chief wars of the time were the contests between the kings and 
the barons, Richard I.'s crusade, John's war with France, resulting in 
the loss of Normandy, Edward I.'s conquest of Wales and temporary 
subjugation of Scotland, and the beginning of the Hundred Years' War 
with France under Edward III. 

The navy of this period was made up of small, one-masted vessels, 
seldom carrying more than a hundred and fifty fighting men. As the 
mariner's compass had now come into general use, these vessels could, 
if occasion required, make voyages of considerable length. 

LEARNING, LITERATURE, AND ART. 

V 323. Education. — In 1264 Walter de Merton founded the first 
college at Oxford, an institution which has ever since borne his name, 
and which really originated the English college system. During the 
reign of Edward III., William of Wykeham, Bishop of Winchester, 
gave a decided impulse to higher education by the establishment, at his 
own expense, of Winchester College, the first great public school 
founded in England. Later, he built and endowed New College at 
Oxford to supplement it. In Merton's and Wykeham's institutions 
young men of small means were instructed, and in great measure sup- 
ported, without charge. They were brought together under one roof, 
required to conform to proper discipline, and taught by the best teach- 
ers of the day. In this way a general feeling of emulation was roused, 
and at the same time a fraternal spirit cultivated which had a strong 
influence in favor of a broader and deeper intellectual culture than the 
monastic schools at Oxford and elsewhere had encouraged. 

324. Literature. — The most prominent historical work was that 
by Matthew Paris, a monk of St. Albans, written in Latin, based 
largely on earlier chronicles, and covering a period from the Norman 
Conquest, 1066, to his death, in 1259. It is a work of much value, and 
was continued by writers of the same abbey. 



THE ANGEVINS, OR PLANTAGENETS. 147 

The first English prose work was a volume of travels by Sir John 
Mandeville, dedicated to Edward III. It was followed by Wycliffe's 
translation of the Bible into English from the Latin version, and by 
Chaucer's " Canterbury Tales," the first great English poem. 

325. Architecture. — Edward I. and his successors began to build 
structures combining the palace with the stronghold. 1 Conway and 
Caernarvon Castles in Wales, Warwick Castle, Warwickshire, and a 
great part of Windsor Castle on the Thames, twenty-three miles west 
of London, are magnificent examples, the last still being occupied as a 
royal residence. 

In churches, the massive architecture of the Normans, with its heavy 
columns and round arches, was followed by Early English, or the first 
period of the Gothic, with pointed arches, slender, clustered, columns and 
tapering spires like that of Salisbury Cathedral. Later the Decorated 
style was adopted. It was characterized by broader windows, highly 
ornamented to correspond with the elaborate decoration within, which 
gave this style its name, which is seen to best advantage in Exeter 
Cathedral, York Minster and Merton College Chapel. 

GENERAL INDUSTRY. 

326. Fairs ; Guilds. — The domestic trade of the country was 
largely carried on during this period by great fairs held at stated times 
by royal license. . Bunyan, in " Pilgrim's Progress," gives a vivid picture 
of one of these centres of trade and dissipation, under the name of 
"Vanity Fair." Though it represents the great fair of Sturbridge, near 
Cambridge, as he saw it in the 17th century, yet it undoubtedly de- 
scribes similar gatherings in the time of the Plantagenets. In all large 
towns the merchants had formed associations for mutual protection 
and the advancement of trade called merchant-guilds. Artisans now 
instituted similar societies, under the name of craft-guilds. For a long 
time the merchant-guilds endeavored to shut out the craft-guilds, the 
men, as they said, " with dirty hands and blue nails," from having any 
part in the government of the towns ; but eventually the latter got 
their full share, and in some cases, as in London, became the more 

1 The characteristic features of the Edwardian castles are double surrounding 
walls, with numerous protecting towers, and the omission of the square Norman 
keep. 



I48 LEADING FACTS OF ENGLISH HISTORY. 

influential party of the two. In London they still survive under the 
name of the " City Companies." 

327. The "Wool Trade. — Under Edward III. a flourishing trade 
in wool grew up between England and Flanders. The manufacture of 
fine woollen goods was also greatly extended in England. All commerce 
at this period was limited to certain market towns called "staples." To 
these places material and goods for export had to be carried in order 
that they might pay duty to the government before leaving the country. 
Imports also paid duties. If an Englishman carried goods abroad and 
sold them in the open market without first paying a tax to the crown, 
he was liable to the punishment of death. 

328. The Great Strike. — The scarcity of laborers caused by the 
ravages of the Black Death caused a general strike for higher wages on 
the part of free workingmen, and also induced thousands of villeins to 
run away from their masters, in order to get work on their own account. 
The general uprising which a heavy poll-tax caused among the labor- 
ing class, though suppressed at the time, led to the ultimate emancipa- 
tion of the villeins, by a gradual process extending through many gener- 
ations. 

MODE OF LIFE, MANNERS, AND CUSTOMS. 

329. Dress ; Furniture. — During most of this period great luxury 
in dress prevailed among the rich and noble. Silks, velvets, scarlet 
cloth and cloth of gold were worn by both men and women. At one 
time the lords and gallants at court wore shoes with points curled up 
like rams 1 horns and fastened to the knee with silver chains. Attempts 
were made by the government to abolish this and other ridiculous 
fashions, and also to regulate the cost of dress according to the rank 
and means of the wearer ; but the effort met with small success. Even 
the rich at this time had but little furniture in their houses, and chairs 
were almost unknown. The floors of houses were strewn with rushes, 
which, as they were rarely changed, became horribly filthy, and were a 
prolific cause of sickness. 

330. The Streets ; Amusements ; Profanity. — The streets of 
London and other cities were rarely more than twelve or fifteen feet 
wide. They were neither paved nor lighted. Pools of stagnant water 
and heaps of refuse abounded. There was no sewerage. The only 
scavengers were the crows. The houses were of timber and plaster, 



THE ANGEVINS, OR PLANTAGENETS. 149 

with projecting stories, and destructive fires were common. The 
chief amusements were hunting and hawking, contests at archery, and 
tournaments. Plays were acted by amateur companies on stages on 
wheels which could be moved from street to street. The subjects con- 
tinued to be drawn in large measure from the Bible and from legends 
of the saints. They served to instruct men in Scripture history, in an 
age when few could read. The instruction was not, however, always 
taken to heart, as profane swearing was so common that an Englishman 
was called on the continent by his favorite oath, which the French re- 
garded as a sort of national name before that of " John Bull " had come 
into use. 



i 5 o 



LEADING FACTS OF ENGLISH HISTORY. 



VII. 

" God's most dreaded instrument, 
In working out a pure intent, 
Is man — arrayed for mutual slaughter." 

Wordsworth 



THE SELF-DESTRUCTION OF FEUDALISM. 

BARON against BARON. 
The Houses of Lancaster and York.— i 399-1485. 

House of Lancaster (the Red Rose). House of York (the White Rose) 

Henry IV., 1399-1413. Edward IV., 1461-1483. 

Henry V., 1413-1422. tEdward V., 1483. 
♦Henry VI., 1422-1471. Richard III., 1483-1485. 

331. Henry IV. 's Accession. — Richard II. left no children. 
The nearest heir to the kingdom by right of birth was the boy 
Edmund Mortimer, a descendant of Richard's uncle Lionel, Duke 
of Clarence. 1 Henry ignored Mortimer's claim, and standing 
before Richard's empty throne in Westminster Hall, boldly de- 
manded the crown for himself. 2 The nation had suffered so much 
from the misgovernment of those who had ruled during the minor- 

* Henry VI. deposed 1461 ; reinstated for a short time in 1470. 
f Edward V. never crowned. 

1 See genealogical table, Paragraph No. 309. 

2 " In the name of the Father, Son, and Holy Ghost, I, Henry of Lancaster, chal- 
lenge this realm of England and the crown, with all the members and the appur- 
tenances, as that I am descended by right line of blood, coming from the good 
King Henry III., and through that right that God of his grace hath sent me, with 
help of kin and of all my friends to recover it, the which realm was in point to be 
undone by default of government and undoing of the good laws." 



THE SELF-DESTRUCTION OF FEUDALISM. I5I 

ity of Richard, that they wanted no more boy kings. Parliament, 
therefore, set aside the direct line of descent and accepted Henry. 

332. Conspiracy in Favor of Richard. — The new king had 
hardly seated himself on the throne when a conspiracy was dis- 
covered, having for its object the release and restoration of Rich- 
ard, still a prisoner in Pontefract Castle. The plot was easily 
crushed. A month later Richard was found dead. Henry had 
his body brought up to London and exposed to public view in St. 
Paul's Cathedral, in order that not only the people, but all would- 
be conspirators might now see that Richard's hands could never 
again wield the sceptre. 

There was, however, one man at least who refused to be con- 
vinced. Owen Glendower, a Welshman, whom the late king had 
befriended, declared that Richard was still living, and that the 
corpse exhibited was not his body. Glendower prepared to main- 
tain his belief by arms. King Henry mustered a force with the 
intention of invading Wales and crushing the rebel on his own 
ground ; but a succession of terrible tempests ensued. The Eng- 
lish soldiers got the idea that Glendower raised these storms, for 
as an old chronicle declares: "Through art magike he " [Glen- 
dower] "caused such foule weather of winds, tempest, raine, snow, 
and haile to be raised for the annoiance of the King's armie, that 
the like had not beene heard of." 1 For this reason the troops 
became disheartened, and the king was obliged to postpone the 
expedition. 

333. Revolt of the Percies. — The Percy family had been active 
in helping Henry to obtain the throne, 2 and had spent large sums 
in defending the North against invasions from Scotland. 3 They 
expected a royal reward for these services, and were sorely dis- 
appointed because they did not get it. As young Henry Percy 
said of the King : — 

1 Holinshed's Chronicle. 

2 Thomas Percy, Earl of Worcester, with Henry Percy, Earl of Northumber- 
land, and his son Sir Henry Percy, or " Hotspur." 

3 See the Ballad of Chevy Chase. 



152 LEADING FACTS OF ENGLISH HISTORY. 

" My father, and my uncle, and myself, 
Did give him that same royalty he wears; 
And, — when he was not six-and-twenty strong, 
Sick in the world's regard, wretched and low, 
A poor, unminded outlaw sneaking home, — 
My father gave him welcome to the shore : 
******** 
Swore him assistance and perform'd it too." * 

But the truth is, Henry had little to give except promises. Parlia- 
ment voted money cautiously, limiting its supplies to specific pur- 
poses; and men of wealth, feeling anxious about the issue of 
the king's usurpation, — for such many regarded it — were afraid 
to lend him what he required. Furthermore, the king was 
hampered by a council whose advice he had pledged himself 
to follow. For these reasons Henry's position was in every way 
precarious. He had no clear title to the throne, and he had 
no means to buy military support. In addition to these diffi- 
culties, Henry had made an enemy of Sir Henry Percy by 
refusing to ransom his brother-in-law, a Mortimer, 2 whom Glen- 
dower had captured, but whom the king wished well out of the 
way with all others of that name. Young Percy proved a danger- 
ous foe. His hot temper and impetuous daring had got for him 
the title of " the Hotspur of the North." He was so fond of fight- 
ing that Shakespeare speaks of him as "he that kills me some six 
or seven dozen of Scots at a breakfast, washes his hands, and says 
to his wife, Fie upon this quiet life! I want work." z It was this 
" fire-eater," who with his father, and his uncle, the Earl of Wor- 
cester, with the Scotch Earl of Douglas and Glendower, now 
formed an alliance to force Henry to give up the throne. 

334. Battle of Shrewsbury. — At Shrewsbury, on the edge of 
Wales, the armies of the king and of the revolutionists met. A 



1 Shakespeare, Henry IV., Part I. Act IV. Sc. 3. 

2 Sir Edmund Mortimer : he was uncle to the Edmund Mortimer, Earl of 
March, who was heir to the crown. See Bailey's Succession to the English Crown. 

3 Shakespeare, Henry IV., Part I. Act II. Sc 4. 



THE SELF-DESTRUCTION OF FEUDALISM. 1 53 

number of Henry's enemies had sworn to single him out in battle. 
The plot was divulged, and it is said thirteen knights arrayed 
themselves in armor resembling the king's in order to mislead the 
assailants. The whole thirteen perished on that bloody field, 
where fat Sir John Falstaff vowed he fought on Henry's behalf " a 
long hour by Shrewsbury clock." 1 The insurgents were utterly 
defeated. Douglas was taken prisoner, "Hotspur" was killed, 
and several of his companions were beheaded after the battle. But 
new insurrections arose, and the country was far from enjoying any 
permanent peace. 

335. Persecution of the Lollards; the First Martyr. — Thus 
far Henry had spent much time in crushing rebels, but he had 
also given part of it to burning heretics. To gain the favor of the 
clergy, and thus render his throne more secure, the king had 
favored the passage of a law by the lords and bishops (for the 
House of Commons had no part in it), by which the Lollards and 
others who dissented from the doctrines of Rome would be pun- 
ished with death. William Sawtrey, a London clergyman, was the 
first victim under the new law (1401). He had declared that he 
would not worship " the cross on which Christ suffered, but only 
Christ himself who had suffered on the cross." He had also openly 
denied the doctrine of transubstantiation, which teaches that the 
sacramental bread is miraculously changed into the actual body 
of the Saviour. For these and minor heresies he was burned at 
Smithfield, in London, in the presence of a great multitude. Some 
years later a second martyrdom took place. But as the English 
people would not allow torture to be used in the case of the 
Knights Templars in the reign of Edward II., 2 so they never favored 
the idea that by committing the body to the flames error could 
thereby be burned out of the soul. The Lollards, indeed, were 
still cast into prison, as some of the extreme and communistic part 
of them doubtless deserved to be, but we hear of no more being 

1 Shakespeare, Henry IV., Part I. Act V. Sc. 4. 

2 See Paragraph No. 317. 



154 LEADING FACTS OF ENGLISH HISTORY. 

put to cruel deaths during Henry's reign, though later, the utmost 
rigor of the law was again to some extent enforced. 

336. Henry's Last Days. — Toward the close of his life the 
king seems to have thought of reviving the crusades for the con- I 
quest of Jerusalem, where, according to tradition, an old predic- 
tion declared that he should die. But his Jerusalem was nearer 
than that of Palestine. While praying at the tomb of Edward the 
Confessor in Westminster Abbey, he was seized with mortal illness. 
His attendants carried him into a room near by. When he re- 
covered, consciousness, and inquired where he was, he was told 
that the apartment was called the Jerusalem Chamber. " Praise 
be to God," he exclaimed, " then here I die ! " There he breathed 
his last, saying to his son, young Prince Henry : — 

" God knows, my son, 
By what by-paths and indirect crook'd ways, 
I met this crown; and I myself know well 
How troublesome it sat upon my head; 
To thee it shall descend with better quiet, 
Better opinion, better confirmation; 
For all the soil of the achievement x goes 
With me into the earth." 

337. Summary. — At the outset of his reign Parliament showed 
its power by changing the succession and making Henry king in- 
stead of young Eamund Mortimer, the direct hereditary heir to 
the crown. Though successful in crushing rebellion, Henry was 
obliged to submit to the guidance of a council, and was rendered 
more entirely dependent on Parliament, especially in the matter 
of supplies, than any previous king. For the first time in English 
history heresy was made punishable by death ; yet such was the 
restraining influence of the people, that but two executions took 
place. 

1 "Soil of the achievement:" stain or blame by which the crown was won. Henry 
IV., Part II. Act IV. Sc. 4. 



THE SELF-DESTRUCTION OF FEUDALISM. 1 55 



HENRY V. — 1413-1422. 

338. Lollard Outbreak at Henry's Accession. — Henry's youth 
had been wild and dissolute, but the weight of the crown sobered 
him. He cast off poor old Jack Falstaff and his other roistering 
companions, and began his new duties in earnest. 

Sir John Oldcastle, or Lord Cobham, was at this time the most 
influential man among the Lollards. He was now brought to trial 
and convicted of heresy. The penalty was death ; but the king 
granted him a respite, in the hope that he might recant. Old- 
castle managed to escape from prison. Immediately after, a con- 
spiracy v/as detected among the Lollards for seizing the govern- 
ment, destroying the chief monasteries in and about London, and 
raising Oldcastle to power. Henry attacked the rebels unawares, 
killed many, and took a large number of prisoners, who were exe- 
cuted on a double charge of heresy and treason. Several years 
afterwards Oldcastle was also executed. 

339. Report that Richard II. was Alive. — A strange report 
now began to circulate. It was said that Richard II. had been 
seen in Scotland, and that he was preparing to claim the throne 
which Henry's father had taken from him. To silence this sedi- 
tious rumor, the king exhumed Richard's body from its grave in 
the little village of Langley, Hertfordshire. The ghastly remains 
were propped up in a chair of state so that all might see them. 
In this manner the king and his court escorted the corpse in 
solemn procession to Westminster Abbey, where it was re-interred 
among the tombs of the English sovereigns. With it he buried 
once for all the troublesome falsehood which had kept up insurrec- 
tion, and had made the deposed king more feared after death than 
he had ever been during life. 

340. War with France. — To divert the attention of the nation 
from dangerous home questions likely to cause fresh revolts, Henry 
now determined to act on his father's dying counsel and pick a 
foreign quarrel. The old grudge against France which began with 



I56 LEADING FACTS OF ENGLISH HISTORY. 

the feuds of Duke William of Normandy before he conquered' 
England, made a war with that country always popular. At this 
period the French were divided into fierce parties who hated each 
other even more, if possible, than they hated the English. This, 
of course, greatly increased the chances of Henry's success, as he 
might form an alliance with one of these factions. 

The king believed it a good opportunity to get three things he 
wanted, — a wife, a fortune, and the French crown. The king of 
France and his most powerful rival, the Duke of Burgundy, had 
each a daughter. To make sure of one of them, Henry secretly 
proposed to both. After long and fruitless negotiations, the French 
king declined to grant the enormous dowry which the English king 
demanded. The latter gladly interpreted this refusal as equivalent 
to a declaration of war. 

341. Battle of Agincourt 1 (1415). — Henry set to work with 
vigor, raised an army, and invaded France. He besieged Harfleur, 
near the mouth of the Seine, and took it ; but his army had suffered 
so much from sickness that, after leaving a garrison in the place, he 
resolved to move north, to Calais, and await re-enforcements. After 
a long and perilous march he reached a little village about mid- 
way between Crdcy and Calais. There he encountered the enemy 
in great force. Both sides prepared for battle. The French had 
fifty thousand troops to Henry's seven or eight thousand ; but the 
latter had that determination which wins victories, and said to one 
of his nobles who regretted that he had not a larger force : — 

" No, my fair cousin; 
If we are marked to die, we are enough 
To do our country loss; and if we live, 
The fewer men, the greater share of honort" 2 

A heavy rain had fallen during the night, and the ploughed land 
over which the French must cross was so wet and miry that their 
heavily armed horsemen sank deep at every step. The English 

1 Agincourt (ah'zhan'koor'). 

2 Henry V., Act IV. Sc. 3. 



THE SELF-DESTRUCTION OF FEUDALISM. l$J 

bowmen, on the other hand, being on foot, could move with ease. 
Henry ordered every archer to drive a stake, sharpened at both 
ends, into the ground before him. This was a substitute for the 
modern bayonet, and presented an almost impassable barrier to 
the French cavalry. 

As at Cr£cy and Poitiers, the English bowmen gained the day. 
The sharp stakes stopped the enemy's horses, and the blinding 
showers of arrows threw the splendidly armed knights into wild 
confusion. With a ringing cheer Henry's troops rushed forward. 

" Then down their bows they threw, 
And forth their swords they drew, 
Arid on the French they flew : 

No man was tardy. 
Arms from the shoulder sent; 
Scalps from the teeth they rent; 
Down the French peasants went : 

These were men hardy." * 

When the fight was over, the king asked, " What is the name of 
that castle yonder?" He was told it was called Agincourt. 
" Then," said he, " from henceforth this shall be known as the 
battle of Agincourt." 

342. Treaty of Troyes 2 (1420) ; Henry's Death. —Henry went 
back in triumph to England. Two years later he again invaded 
France. His victorious course continued. In 1420, by the Treaty 
of Troyes, he gained all he had planned to get. He obtained 
large sums of money, the French Princess Katherine in marriage, 
and the promise of the crown of France on the death of her 
father, Charles VI., who was then insane and feeble. Meantime 
Henry was to govern the kingdom as regent. 

Henry returned to England with the bride he had won by the 
sword, but he was soon recalled to France by a revolt against his 

1 These vigorous lines, from Drayton's Ballad of Agincourt, if not quite true 
to the letter of history (since it is doubtful whether the French peasants were on the 
field), are wholly true to its spirit. 

2 Troyes (trwa). 



I58 LEADING FACTS OF ENGLISH HISTORY. 

power. He died there, leaving an infant son, Henry. Two months 
afterward Charles VI. died, so that by the terms of the treaty 
Henry's son now inherited the French crown. 

343. Summary. — The one great event with which Henry V.'s 
name is connected is the conquest of France. It was hailed at 
the time as a glorious achievement, and in honor of it his tomb in 
Westminster Abbey was surmounted by a statue of the king having 
a head of solid silver. Eventually the head was stolen and never 
recovered. The theft was typical of Henry's short-lived victories 
abroad, for all the territory he had gained was soon destined to be 
hopelessly lost. 



1/ 



HENRY VI. (House of Lancaster, Red Rose). — I422-I47I. 1 



344. Accession of Henry ; Renewal of the French War. — The 
heir to all the vast dominions left by Henry V. was proclaimed 
king of England and France when in his cradle, and crowned, 
while still a child, first at Westminster and then at Paris. 

But the accession to the French possessions was merely an 
empty form, for as the son of the late Charles VI. of France re- 
fused to abide by the Treaty of Troyes and give up the throne, war 
again broke out. 

345. Siege of Orleans. 2 — The Duke of Bedford 3 fought vigor- 
ously in Henry's behalf. In five years the English had got posses- 
sion of most of the country north of the Loire. They now 
determined to make an effort to drive the French prince south of 
that river. To accomplish this they must take the strongly forti- 
fied town of Orleans which was situated on its banks. Forts were 
accordingly built around the place, and cannon planted to batter 
down its walls. Six months later so much progress had been 

1 Dethroned 1461, restored for a few months in 1470, died in the Tower of Lon- 
don, 1471. 

2 Orleans (or'la-on). 

s During Henry's minority, John, Duke of Bedford, was protector of the realm. 
When absent in France, Humphrey, Duke' of Gloucester, acted for him. 



THE SELF-DESTRUCTION OF FEUDALISM. 1 59 

made in the siege, that it was plain the city could not hold out 
much longer. The fortunes of France seemed to depend on the 
fate of Orleans. If it fell, they would go with it. 

346. Joan of Arc. 1 — At this juncture, Joan of Arc, a peasant 
girl of eighteen, came forward to inspire her despairing country- 
men with fresh courage. She believed that Heaven had called 
her to drive the English from the land. The troops rallied round 
her. Clad in white armor, mounted on a white war-horse, she led 
the troops from victory to victory, until she saw Prince Charles 
triumphantly crowned in the Cathedral of Rheims. 1 There her 
fortune changed. Her own people basely abandoned her. The 
unworthy King Charles made no attempt to protect the " Maid of 
Orleans," and she fell into the hands of the infuriated English, 
who believed she was in league with the devil. In accordance with 
this belief Joan was tried for witchcraft and heresy at Rouen, and 
sentenced to the flames. She died as bravely as she had lived, 
saying in her last agonies that her celestial voices had not deceived 
her, and that through them she had saved France. 

" God forgive us," exclaimed one of Henry's courtiers who was 
present; "we are lost ! We have burned a saint !" It was the 
truth ; and from the martyred girl's ashes a new spirit seemed to 
go forth to bless her ungrateful country. The heart of France was 
touched. The people rose against their invaders. Before Henry 
VI. reached his thirtieth year the Hundred Years' War with 
France which Edward III. had begun, was ended, and England 
had lost all of her possessions on the continent, except a bare 
foothold at Calais. 

347. Henry VI.'s Character and Marriage. — When Henry 
became of age he proved to be but the shadow of a king. His 
health and character were alike feeble. At twenty-five he married 

1 The name given by the English to Jeanne d'Arc, or Dare. Later, the French 
called her La Pucelle, " The Maid " ; or La Pucelle d'Orleans, " The Maid of 
Orleans." 

2 Rheims (ranz). 



l60 LEADING FACTS OF ENGLISH HISTORY. 

the beautiful and unfortunate Margaret of Anjou, who was by far 
the better man of the two. When years of disaster came, this 
dauntless "queen of tears " headed councils, led armies, and ruled 
both king and kingdom. 

348. Poverty of the Crown and Wealth of the Nobles. — One 

cause of the weakness of the government was its poverty. The 
revenues of the crown had been greatly diminished by gifts and 
grants to favorites. The king was obliged to pawn his jewels 
and the silver plate from his table to pay his wedding expenses ; 
and it is said on high authority * that the royal couple were some' 
times in actual want of a dinner. 

On the other hand, the Earl of Warwick and other great lords 
had made fortunes out of the French wars, 2 and lived in regal 
splendor. The earl, it is said, had at his different castles and his 
city mansion in London, upwards of thirty thousand men in his 
service. Their livery, or uniform, a bright red jacket with the 
Warwick arms, a bear erect holding a ragged staff, embroidered on 
it in white, was seen, known, and feared throughout the country. 
Backed by such forces it was easy for the earl and other powerful 
lords to overawe kings, parliaments, and courts. Between these 
heads of the great houses quarrels were constantly breaking out. 
The safety of the people was endangered by these feuds, which 
became more and more violent, and often ended in bloodshed and 
murder. 

349. Disfranchisement of the Commons. — With the growth of 
power on the part of the nobles, there was also imposed for the 
first time a restriction on the right of the people to vote for mem- 
bers of Parliament. Up to this period all freemen might take 
part in the election of representatives chosen by the counties to sit 
in the House of Commons. 

1 Fortescue, on the Governance of England (Plummer). 

2 First, by furnishing troops to the government, the feudal system having now 
so far decayed that many soldiers had to be hired; second, by the plunder of 
French cities ; third, by ransoms obtained from noblemen taken prisoners. 



THE SELF-DESTRUCTION OF FEUDALISM. l6l 

A law was now passed forbidding any one to vote at these elec- 
tions unless he was a resident of the county and possessed of 
landed property yielding an annual income of forty shillings 
($200) . l Subsequently it was further enacted that no county can- 
didate should be eligible unless he was a man of means and social 
standing. These two measures were blows against the free self- 
government of the nation, since their manifest tendency was to 
make the House of Commons represent the property rather than 
the people of the country. 

350. Cade's Rebellion. — In 1450 a formidable rebellion broke 
out in Kent, then, as now, one of the most independent and dem- 
ocratic counties in England. The leader was Jack Cade, who 
called himself by the popular name of Mortimer, claiming to be 
cousin to Richard, Duke of York, a nephew of that Edmund Mor- 
timer, now dead, whom Henry IV. had unjustly deprived of his 
succession to the crown. 

Cade, who was a mere adventurer, was quite likely used as a 
tool by plotters much higher than himself, who, by putting him 
forward, could thus judge whether the country was ready for a 
revolution and change of sovereigns. 

Wat Tyler's rebellion, seventy years before, was almost purely 
social in its character, having for its object the emancipation of 
the enslaved laboring classes. Cade's insurrection was, on the 
contrary, almost wholly political. His chief complaint was that 
the people were not allowed their free choice in the election of 
representatives, but were forced by the nobility to choose candi- 
dates they did not want. 

Other grievances for which reform was demanded were exces- 
sive taxation and the rapacity of the evil counsellors who con- 
trolled the king. 

Cade entered London with a body of twenty thousand men. 

1 The income required by the statute was forty shillings, which, says Freeman, 
we may fairly call forty pounds of our present money. See Freeman's Growth of 
the English Constitution, p. 97. 



l62 LEADING FACTS OF ENGLISH HISTORY. 

He took formal possession of the place by striking his sword on 
London Stone, — a Roman monument still standing, which then 
marked the centre of the ancient city, — saying, as Shakespeare 
reports him, " Now is Mortimer lord of this city." 1 After three 
days of riot and the murder of the king's treasurer, the rebellion 
came to an end through a general pardon. Cade, however, en • 
deavored to raise a new insurrection in the South, but was shortly 
after captured, and died of his wounds. 

351. Wars of the Roses (1455-1485). — The real significance 
of Cade's insurrection is that it showed the wide-spread feeling of 
discontent caused by misgovernment, and that it served as an in- 
troduction to the long and dreary period of civil strife known as 
the Wars of the Roses. So long as the English nobles had France 
for a fighting-ground. French cities to plunder, and French cap- 
tives to hold for heavy ransoms, they were content to let matters 
go on quietly at home. But that day was over. Through the bad 
management, if not through the positive treachery of Edmund, 
Duke of Somerset, the French conquests had been lost, a weak 
king, at times insane, sat on the English throne, while Richard, 
Duke of York, a really able man and a descendant of the Morti- 
mers, was, as many believed, unlawfully excluded from it. This 
fact in itself would have furnished a plausible pretext for hostilities, 
even as far back as Cade's rising. But the birth of a son to Henry 
in 1453 probably gave the signal for the outbreak, since it cut off 

1 " Now is Mortimer lord of this city; and here, sitting upon London Stone, I 
charge and command, that at the city's cost, this conduit runs nothing but claret 
wine this first year of our reign ; and now it shall be treason for any man to call 
me other than Lord Mortimer." Henry VI., Part II. Act IV. Sc. 6. 

It is worthy of remark that here, as elsewhere in his historical plays, the great 
dramatist expresses little, if any, sympathy with the cause of the people. In King 
John he does not mention the Great Charter, in Richard II. he passes over Wat 
Tyler without a word, while in Henry VI. he mentions Cade only to ridicule 
him and his movement. The explanation of this lies, perhaps, in the fact that 
Shakespeare lived in an age when England was threatened by both open and 
secret enemies. The need of his time was a strong, steady hand at the helm ; it 
was no season for reform or change of any sort. This may be the reason why he 
was silent in regard to democratic risings and demands in the past. 



THE SELF-DESTRUCTION OF FEUDALISM. 



16* 



all hopes which Richard's friends may have had of his peaceful 
succession. 

352. The Scene in the Temple Garden. — Shakespeare repre- 
sents the smouldering feud between the rival houses of Lancaster 
and York (both of whom it should be remembered were descend- 
ants of Edward III.) 1 as breaking into an angry quarrel in the 
Temple Garden, London, when Richard, Duke of York, says : — 

K Let him that is a true-born gentleman, 
And stands upon the honor of his birth, 
If he suppose that I have pleaded truth, 
From off this brier pluck a white rose with me." 

To which John Beaufort, Duke of Somerset, 2 a descendant of 

1 Table showing the descendants of Edward III., with reference to the claims oi 
Lancaster and York to the crown : — 



Ed^ 



ard III. 

I 



Lionel, Duke of 
Clarence (3d son) 

Philippa. 

I 

Roger Mortimer. 

I ' 1 

Edmund Morti- Anne Morti- 
mer (Earl of mer, m. Rich- 
March), d. 1424. ard, Earl of 
Cambridge (s. 
of Edmund, 
Duke of York) 

• Richard, Duke 
of York. 



John of Gaunt, Duke of 
Lancaster (4th son) 



Henry IV. 

Henry V. 

Henry VI. 



John, Earl 
of Somerset, f 



John, Edmund, 
Duke Duke of 

Prince Edward, f Som- Somerset. 

b. 1453; killed 
at battle of 



Edmund, Duke Of 
York (5th son) 

Richard, Earl of 

Cambridge, m. 

Anne Morti- 



mer. 



Tewksbury, 
1471. 



erset, 
d. 1448. 



t John, Earl of Somerset, was 
an illegitimate half-brother of 
Henry IV. 's, but was, in 1397, 
declared legitimate by act of 
Parliament and a papal decree. 



* Inherited the title of Duke of York from his father's eldest brother Edward, Duke of 
York, who died without issue. 

Richard's father, the Earl of Cambridge, had forfeited his title and estates by treason; 
but Parliament had so far limited the sentence that his son was not thereby debarred from in- 
heriting his uncle's rank and fortune. 

Richard, Duke of York, now represented the direct hereditary line of succession to the 
crown, while Henry VI. and his son represented that established by Parliament through 
acceptance of Henry IV. Compare Table, Paragraph No. 309. 

2 John, Duke of Somerset, died 1448. He was brother of Edmund, Duke of 
Somerset, who was slain at St. Albans 1455. 



164 LEADING FACTS OF ENGLISH HISTORY. 

the house of Lancaster, who has just accused Richard of being 
the dishonored son of a traitor, replies : — 

" Let him that is no coward, nor no flatterer, 
But dare- maintain the party of the truth, 
Pluck a red rose from off this thorn with me." 

The Earl of Warwick rejoins : — 

" This brawl to-day, 
Grown t this faction in the Temple-garden, 
Shall send, between the red rose and the white, 
A thousand souls to death and deadly night." 1 

353. The Real Object of the War. —The war, however, did 
not directly originate in this quarrel, but rather in the strife for 
power between Edmund, Duke of Somerset (John's brother), and 
Richard, Duke of York. Each desired to get the control of the 
government, though at first neither appears to have openly aimed 
at the crown. 

During Henry's attack of insanity in 1453 Richard was ap- 
pointed Protector of the realm, and shortly after, the Duke of 
Somerset, the king's particular favorite and chief adviser, was cast 
into prison on the double charge of having culpably lost Nor- 
mandy and embezzled public moneys. 

In 1455, wnen Henry recovered, he released Somerset and 
restored him to office. Richard protested, and raising an army in 
the north, marched toward London. He met the royalist forces at 
St. Albans ; a battle ensued, and Somerset was slain. 

During the next thirty years the war raged with more or less 
fury between the parties of the Red Rose (Lancaster) and the 
White (York), the first maintaining the right of Parliament to 
choose such king as they saw fit, as in Henry IV.'s case; the 
second insisting on the succession being determined by strict 
hereditary descent, as represented in the claim of Richard. 

But beneath the surface the contest was not for principle, but 
for place and spoils. The great nobles, who during the French 

1 Shakespeare's Henry VI., Part I. Act II. Sc. 4. 



THE SELF-DESTRUCTION OF FEUDALISM. 165 

wars had pillaged abroad, now pillaged each other ; and as Eng- 
land was neither big nor rich enough to satisfy the greed of all of 
them, the struggle gradually became a war of mutual extermina- 
tion. It was, to a certain extent, a sectional war. Eastern England, 
then the wealthiest and most progressive part of the country, had 
strongly supported Wycliffe in his reforms. It now espoused the 
side of Richard, Duke of York, who was believed to be friendly to 
religious liberty, while the western counties fought for the cause 
of Lancaster and the church. 1 

354. The First Battles. — We have already seen that the first 
blood was shed at St. Albans in 1455, where the Yorkists, after half 
an hour's fighting, gained a complete victory. A similar result fol- 
lowed at Bloreheath, Staffordshire. In a third battle, at North- 
ampton, 2 the Yorkists were again successful. Henry was taken 
prisoner, and Queen Margaret fled with the young Prince Edward 
to Scotland. Richard now demanded the crown. Henry an- 
swered with unexpected spirit : " My father was king, his father 
also was king. I have worn the crown forty years from my cradle ; 
you have all sworn fealty to me as your sovereign, and your fathers 
did the like to my fathers. How, then, can my claim be dis- 
puted?" Finally, -afterartong dispute, a compromise was effected. 
Henry agreed that if he were left in peaceable possession of the 
throne during his life, Richard or his heirs should succeed him. 

355. Battles of Wakefield and Towton. — But Queen Margaret 
refused to see her son, Prince Edward, thus tamely set aside. She 
raised an army and attacked the Yorkists. Richard, whose forces 
were inferior to hers, had entrenched himself in his castle. 3 Day 
after day Margaret went up under the walls and dared him to 
come out. At length, stung by her taunts, the duke sallied from 
his stronghold, and the battle of Wakefield was fought. Margaret 

1 It will be remembered that the persecution of Wycliffe's followers began under 
Henry IV., the first Lancastrian king. See Paragraph No. 335. 

2 Northampton, Northamptonshire. 

8 Sandal Castle, near Wakefield, Yorkshire. Towton, also in Yorkshire. 



166 LEADING FACTS OF ENGLISH HISTORY. 

was victorious. Richard was slain, and the queen, in mockery of 
his claims to sovereignty, cut off his head, decked it with a paper 
crown, and set it up over the chief gate of the city of York. For- 
tune now changed. The next year the Lancastrians were defeated 
with great slaughter at Towton. 1 The light spring snow was crim- 
soned with the blood of thirty thousand slain, and the way strewn 
with corpses for ten miles up to the walls of York. The Earl of 
Warwick, henceforth popularly known as " the king-maker," now 
placed Edward, eldest son of the late Duke of York, on the throne, 
with the title of Edward IV. Henry and Margaret fled to Scot- 
land. The new government summoned them to appear, and as 
they failed to answer, proclaimed them traitors. Four years later 
Henry was taken prisoner and sent to the Tower of London. He 
may have been happier there than battling for his throne. He 
was not born to reign, but rather, as Shakespeare makes him say, 
to lead a shepherd's life, watching his flocks, until the peacefully 
flowing years should — 

"Bring white hairs unto a quiet grave." 2 

356. Summary. — The history of the period is one of loss. 
The brilliant Fre?ich conquests of Henry V. slipped from the nerve- 
less hands of his son, leaving France practically independent. The 
franchise had been restricted, and the House of Commons now 
represented property-holders mainly. Cade's rebellion was the 
sign of political discontent and the forerunner of civil war. The 
contests of the parties of the Red and the White Roses drenched 
England's fair fields with the best blood of her own sons. The 
reign ends with King Henry in prison, Queen Margaret and the 
prince fugitives, and the Yorkist Edward IV. placed on the throne 
by the help of the powerful Earl of Warwick. 

1 For battle-fields of the Wars of Roses, see Map No. 10, p. 174. 

2 See Henry's soliloquy on the field of Towton, beginning, — 

" O God! methinks it were a happy life 

To be no better than a homely swain." 

Shakespeare, Henry VI., Part III. Act II. Sc. 5. 



THE SELF-DESTRUCTION, OF FEUDALISM. 1 67 

EDWARD IV. (House of York, White Rose). — 1461-1483. 

357. Continuation of the War ; Death of Henry ; Tewkesbury. 

— During the whole of Edward's reign the war went on with vary- 
ing success, but unvarying ferocity, until at last neither side would 
ask or give quarter. Some years after the accession of the new 
sovereign the Earl of Warwick quarrelled with him, thrust him 
down from the throne, and restored Henry. But a few months 
later, at the battle of Barnet, Warwick, who was " the last of the 
great barons," was killed, and Henry, who had been led back to 
the Tower 1 again, died one of those "conveniently sudden deaths " 
which were then so common. 

The heroic Margaret, however, would not give up the contest in 
behalf of her son's claim to the crown. But fate was against her. 
A few weeks after the battle of Barnet 2 her army was utterly de- 
feated at Tewkesbury, her son Edward slain, and the queen herself 
taken prisoner. She was eventually released on the payment of a 
large ransom, and returned to France, where she died broken- 
hearted in her native Anjou, prophesying that the contest would 
go on until the Red Rose, representing her party, should get a still 
deeper dye from the blood of her enemies. 3 

358. The Introduction of Printing. — But an event was at 
hand of greater importance than any question of crowns or parties, 
though then none were wise enough to see its real significance. 
William Caxton, a London merchant, having learned the new art 
of printing in Flanders, now returned to his native country and set 
up a small press within the precincts of Westminster Abbey. 

There, " at the sign of the red pole," he advertised his wares as 
" good chepe." He was not only printer, but translator and editor. 

1 The Tower of London, built by William the Conqueror as a fortress to over- 
awe the city, became later both a royal palace and a prison of state. It is now used 
as a citadel, armory, and depository for the crown jewels. 

2 Barnet : about eleven miles northwest of London, Hertfordshire. Tewkesbury : 
near Gloucester, Gloucestershire. 

3 See Scotfs Anne of Geierstein, Chapter XXX, 



l68 LEADING FACTS OF ENGLISH HISTORY. 

Edward gave him some royal patronage, and paid liberally for 
work which not long before the clergy in France had condemned 
as a black art emanating from the devil, and which many of the 
English clergy still regarded with no very friendly eye, especially 
as it threatened to destroy the copying trade, of which the 
monks had well-nigh a monopoly. The first printed book which 
Caxton is known to have published in England was a small volume 
entitled " The Sayings of the Philosophers " (1477). 1 This venture 
was followed in due time by Chaucer's " Canterbury Tales," and 
whatever other poetry, history, or classics seemed worthy of preser- 
vation ; in all no less than sixty-four distinct works. Up to this 
time a book of any kind was a luxury, laboriously " written by the 
few for the few " ; but from this date literature of all sorts was 
destined to multiply and fill the earth with many leaves and some 
good fruit. 

Caxton's patrons though few, were choice, and when one of them, 
the Earl of Worcester, was beheaded in the wars, he said of him, 
" The axe did then cut off more learning than was left in all the 
heads of the surviving lords." Recently a memorial window has 
been placed in St. Margaret's Church within the Abbey grounds, as 
a tribute to the man who, while England was red with slaughter, 
introduced " the art preservative of all arts," and preservative of 
liberty no less. 2 

359. Edward's Character. — The king, however, cared more 
for his pleasures than for literature or the welfare of the nation. 

1 " The dictes or sayengis of the philosophres, enprynted by me william Cax- 
ton at westmestre, the year of our lord MCCCCLxxvii." 

It has no title-page, but ends as above, A copy is preserved in the British 
Museum. "The Game and Play of the Chess" is supposed by some to have been 
published a year or two earlier, but as the book has neither printer's name, place of 
publication, nor date, the time of its issue remains wholly conjectural. 
2 " Lord ! taught by Thee, when Caxton bade 
His silent words forever speak; 
A grave for tyrants then was made, 
Then crack'd the chain which yet shall break." 

EBENEZER ELLIOTT, Hymn for tke Printers' 
Gathering at Sheffield. /Sjj. 



THE SELF-DESTRUCTION OF FEUDALISM. 169 

His chief aim was to beg, borrow, or extort money to waste in 
dissipation. The loans which he forced his subjects to grant, and 
which were seldom, if ever, repaid, went under the name of " be- 
nevolences." But it is safe to say that those who furnished them 
were in no very benevolent frame of mind at the time. Exception 
may perhaps be made of the rich and elderly widow, who was so 
pleased with the king's handsome face that she willingly handed 
him ^20 (a large sum in those days) ; and when the jovial monarch 
gallantly kissed her out of gratitude for her generosity, she at once, 
like a true and loyal subject, doubled the donation. Edward's 
course of life was not conducive to length of days, even if the 
times had favored a. long reign. He died early, leaving a son, 
Prince Edward, to succeed him. 

360. Summary. — The reign was marked by the continuation 
of the Wars of the Roses, the death of King Henry VI. and of his 
son, with the return of Queen Margaret to France. The most 
important event was the introduction of the printing-press by 
William Caxton. 

EDWARD V. (House of York, White Rose). — 1483-1483. 

361. Gloucester appointed Protector. — Prince Edward, heir 
to the throne, was a lad of twelve. He was placed under the 
guardianship of his ambitious and unscrupulous uncle, Richard, 
Duke of Gloucester, who had been appointed Lord Protector of 
the realm until the boy should become of age. Richard protected 
his young nephew as a wolf would a lamb. He met the prince 
coming up to London from Ludlow Castle, Shropshire, attended 
by his half-brother Sir Richard Grey, and his uncle Lord Rivers. 
Under the pretext that Edward would be safer in the Tower of 
London than at Westminster Palace, Richard sent the prince 
there, and soon found means for having his kinsmen Grey and 
Rivers executed. 

362. Murder of Lord Hastings and the Two Princes. — Rich- 
ard shortly after showed his object. Lord Hastings was one of the 



I70 LEADING FACTS OF ENGLISH HISTORY. 

council who had voted to make the duke Protector, but he was 
unwilling to help him in his plot to seize the crown. While at the 
council-table in the Tower Richard suddenly started up and ac- 
cused Hastings of treason, saying, " By St. Paul I will not to dinner 
till I see thy head off." Hastings was dragged out of the room, 
and without either trial or examination was beheaded on a stick of 
timber on the Tower green. The way was now clear for the 
accomplishment of the duke's purpose. The queen -mother 
(Elizabeth Woodville, widow of Edward IV.) took her younger 
son and his sisters, one of whom was the Princess Elizabeth, of 
York, and fled for protection to the sanctuary 1 of Westminster 
Abbey, where, refusing all comfort, "she sat alone, low on the 
rushes." 2 Finally, Richard half persuaded and half forced the 
unhappy woman to give up her second son to his tender care. 
With bitter weeping and dread presentiments of evil she parted 
from him, saying, " Farewell, mine own sweet son ! God send you 
good keeping ! Let me kiss you once ere you go, for God knoweth 
when we shall kiss together again." That was the last time she 
saw the lad. He and Edward, his elder brother, were soon after 
murdered in the Tower, and Richard rose by that double crime to 
the height he coveted. 

363 Summary. — Edward's nominal reign of less than three 
months must be regarded simply as the time during which his 
uncle, the Duke of Gloucester, perfected his plot for seizing the 
crown by the successive murders of Rivers, Grey, Hastings, and 
the two young princes. 

RICHARD III. (House of York, White Rose). — 1483-1485. 

364. Richard's Accession; he promises Financial Reform. — 

Richard used the preparations which had been made for the mur- 
dered Prince Edward's coronation for his own. He probably 
gained over an influential party by promises of financial reform. 

1 See Paragraph No. 131. 

2 " On the rushes " : on the stone floor covered with rushes. 



THE SELF-DESTRUCTION OF FEUDALISM. I?I 

In their address to him at his accession Parliament said, " Cer- 
tainly we be determined rather to adventure and commit us to the 
peril of our lives . . . than to live in such thraldom and bondage 
as we have lived long time heretofore, oppressed and injured by 
extortions and new impositions, against the laws of God and man, 
and the liberty, old policy and laws of this realm, wherein every 
Englishman is inherited." * 

365. Richard's Character. —Several attempts have been made 
of late years to defend the king against the odium heaped upon 
him by the older historians. But these well-meant efforts to prove 
him less black than tradition painted him, are perhaps sufficiently 
answered by the fact that his memory was so thoroughly hated by 
those who knew him best that no one of the age when he lived 
thought of vindicating his character. 

We must then believe, until it is clearly proved to the contrary, 
that the last and worst of the Yorkist kings was what common re- 
port and Shakespeare have together represented him, — distorted 
in figure, and with ambition so unrestrained, that the words the 
poet puts into his mouth may have been really his : — 

"Then, since the heavens have shap'd my body so, 
Let hell make crookt my mind to answer it." 2 

Personally he was as brave as he was cruel and unscrupulous. 
He promoted some reforms. He abolished " benevolences," at 
least for a time, and he encouraged Caxton in his great work. 

366. Revolts ; Buckingham ; Henry Tudor. — During his short 
reign of two years, several revolts broke out, but came to nothing. 
The Duke of Buckingham, who had helped Richard to the throne, 
turned against him because he did not get the rewards he expected. 
He headed a revolt ; but as his men deserted him, he fell into the 
king's hands, and the executioner speedily did the rest. Finally a 
more formidable enemy arose. Before he gained the crown 

1 Taswell-Langmead, Constitutional History of England. 

2 Henry VI., Part III. Act V. Sc. 6. 



172 LEADING FACTS OF ENGLISH HISTORY 

Richard had cajoled or compelled the unfortunate Anne Neville, 
widow of that Prince Edward, son of Henry VI., who was slain 
at Tewkesbury, 1 into becoming his wife. She said with truth, 
" Small joy have I in being England's queen." The king intended 
that his son should marry Elizabeth of York, 2 sister to the two 
princes he had murdered in the Tower. By so doing he would 
strengthen his position, and secure the succession to the throne to 
his own family. But Richard's son shortly after died, and the 
king, having mysteriously got rid of his wife, now made up his 
mind to marry Elizabeth himself. 

The princess, however, was already betrothed to Henry Tudor, 
Earl of Richmond, the engagement having been effected during 
that sad winter which she and her mother spent in sanctuary at 
Westminster Abbey, watched by Richard's soldiers to prevent their 
escape. The Earl of Richmond, who was an illegitimate descendant 
of the house of Lancaster, had long been waiting on the continent 
for an opportunity to invade England and claim the crown. Owing 
to the enmity of Edward IV. and Richard toward him, the earl had 
been, as he himself said, " either a fugitive or a captive since he 
was five years old." He now determined to remain so no longer. 
In 1485 he landed with a force at Milford Haven, in Wales, where 
he felt sure of a welcome, since his paternal ancestors were Welsh. 3 

Advancing through Shrewsbury, he met Richard on Bosworth 
Field, in Leicestershire. 

367. Battle of Bosworth Field (1485). —There the decisive 
battle was fought between the great rival houses of York and Lan- 

1 See Paragraph No. 357. 2 See Paragraph No. 362. 

8 Descent of Henry Tudor, Earl of Richmond. 

Henry V. (House of Lancaster) married Catharine of France, who after his 

I death married Owen Tudor, a Welshman. 

Henry VI. 

Edmund Tudor (Earl of Richmond) married 

Margaret Beaufort, a descendant of John of Gaunt, 

Duke of Lancaster [she was granddaughter of 

John, Earl of Somerset, see p. 163J. 

Henry Tudor, Earl of Richmond (also 
called Henry of Lancaster), 



THE SELF-DESTRUCTION OF FEUDALISM. 1 73 

caster. Richard went out the evening before to look over the 
ground. He found one of his sentinels slumbering at his post. 
Drawing his sword, he stabbed him to the heart, saying, " I found 
him asleep and I leave him asleep." Going back to his tent, he 
passed a restless night. The ghosts of all his murdered victims 
seemed to pass in procession before him. Such a sight may well, 
as Shakespeare says, have "struck terror to the soul of Richard." 1 
At sunrise the battle began. Before the attack, Richard, it is 
said, confessed to his troops the murder of his two nephews, but 
pleaded that he had atoned for the crime with " many salt tears 
and long penance." It is probable that had it not been for 
the treachery of some of his adherents the king would have 
won the day. When he saw that he was deserted by those on 
whose help he had counted, he uttered the cry of " treason ! trea- 
son !" and dashed forward into the thick of the fight. With the 
fury of despair he hewed his way into the very presence of the 
earl, and killing the standard-bearer, flung the Lancastrian banner 
to the ground. But he could go no further. Numbers overpow- 
ered him, and he fell. During the battle he had worn his crown. 
After all was over, it was found hanging on a hawthorn- bush 2 and 
handed to the victor, who placed it on his own head. The army 
then gathered round Henry thus crowned, and moved by one im- 
pulse joined in the exultant hymn of the Te Deum. 3 Thus ended 
the last of the Plantagenet line. " Whatever their faults or crimes, 
there was not a coward among them." 4 

368. End of the Wars of the Roses; their Effects.— With 

Bosworth Field the Wars of the Roses ceased. During the thirty 
years they had continued, fourteen pitched battles had been 
fought, in a single one of which (Towton) more Englishmen lost 

1 Shakespeare's Richard III., Act V. Sc. 3. 

2 An ancient stained-glass window in Henry VII.'s Chapel (Westminster 
Abbey) commemorates this incident. 

8 - Te Deum laudamus " : We praise Thee, O God. A Roman Catholic hymn ot 
thanksgiving, now sung in English in the Episcopal and other churches. 
* Stubbs' Constitutional History of England. 



174 LEADING FACTS OF ENGLISH HISTORY. 

their lives than in the whole course of the wars with France during 
the preceding forty years. In all, eighty princes of the blood 
royal and more than half of the nobility of the realm perished. 

Of those who escaped death by the sword, many died on the 
scaffold. The remnant who were saved had hardly a better fate, 
They left their homes only to suffer in foreign lands. A writer of 
that day 1 says : " I, myself, saw the Duke of Exeter, the king 
of England's brother-in-law, walking barefoot in the Duke of Bur- 
gundy's train, and begging his bread from door to door." Every 
individual of two families of the great houses of Somerset and 
Warwick fell either on the field or under the executioner's axe. 
In tracing family pedigrees it is startling to see how often the 
record reads, "killed at St. Albans," "slain at Towton," "be- 
headed after the battle of Wakefield," and the like. 2 

When the contest closed, the feudal baronage was broken up. 
In a majority of cases the estates of the nobles either fell to the 
crown for lack of heirs, or they were fraudulently seized by the 
king's officers. Thus the greater part of the wealthiest and most 
powerful aristocracy in the world disappeared so completely that 
they ceased to have either a local habitation or a name. But the 
elements of civil discord at last exhausted themselves. Bosworth 
was a turning-point in English history. When the sun went down, 
it saw the termination of the desperate struggle between the White 
Roses of York and the Red of Lancaster; when it ushered in a 
new day, it shone also on a new king, who introduced a new social 
and political period. 



Summary. — The importance of Richard's reign is that 
it marks the close of thirty years of civil war, the destruction of 
the predominating influence of the feudal barons, and leaves as 
the central figure Henry Tudor, the sovereign who now ascended 
the throne. 

1 See the Paston Letters. 

2 Guest's Lectures on English History. 



No. 10. 




To face page 174. 

The battle-fields of the Wars of the Roses aie underlined: thus, Towton (in Yorkshire) 






THE SELF-DESTRUCTION OF FEUDALISM. 1 75 



GENERAL VIEW OF THE LANCASTRIAN AND YORKIST 
PERIOD (1399-1485). 

I. GOVERNMENT. — II. RELIGION. — III. MILITARY AFFAIRS. — IV. 
LITERATURE, LEARNING, AND ART. — V. GENERAL INDUSTRY AND 
COMMERCE. — VI. MODE OF LIFE, MANNERS, AND CUSTOMS. 

GOVERNMENT. 

370. Parliament and the Royal Succession. — The period be- 
gan with the parliamentary recognition of the claim to the crown of 
Henry, Duke of Lancaster, son of John of Gaunt, Duke of Lancaster, 
fourth son of Edward III. By this act the claim of Edmund Mortimer, 
a descendant of Edward III. by his third son, Lionel, Duke of Clarence, 
was deliberately set aside, and this change of the order of succession 
eventually furnished an excuse for civil war. 1 

371. Disfranchisement of Electors ; Benevolences. — Under 
Henry VI. a property qualification was established by act of Parliament 
which cut off all persons from voting for county members of the House 
of Commons who did not have an income of forty shillings (say ^40, or 
$200, in modern money) from freehold land. County elections, the stat- 
ute said, had " of late been made by a very great, outrageous, and exces- 
sive number of people ... of which the most part were people of small 
substance and of no value." Later, candidates for the House of Com- 
mons from the counties were required to be gentlemen by birth, and to 
have an income of not less than £10 (or say ^400, or $2000, in modern 
money). Though the tendency of such laws was to make the House of 
Commons represent property-holders rather than the freemen as a body, 

1 Before the accession of Henry III., Parliament made choice of any one of the 
king's sons whom they considered best fitted to rule. After that time it was under- 
stood that the king's eldest son should be chosen to succeed him ; or in case of his 
death during the lifetime of his father, the eldest son of the eldest son, and- so for- 
ward in that line. The action taken by Parliament in favor of Henry IV. was a 
departure from that principle, and a reassertion of its ancient right to choose any 
descendant of the royal family they deemed best. See genealogical table, Para- 
graph No. 309. 



I76 LEADING FACTS OF ENGLISH HISTORY. 

yet no apparent change seems to have taken place in the class of county 
members chosen. . 

Eventually, however, these and other interferences with free elections 
caused the rebellion of Jack Cade, in which the insurgents demanded 
the right to choose such representatives as they saw fit. But the move- 
ment appears to have had no practical result. During the civil war which 
ensued, the king (Edward IV.) compelled wealthy subjects to lend him 
large sums (seldom, if ever, repaid) called " benevolences." Richard 
III. abolished this obnoxious system, but afterward revived it, and it 
became conspicuously hateful under his successor in the next period. 

Another great grievance was Purveyance. By it the king's purveyors 
had the right to seize provisions and means of transportation for the 
king and his hundreds of ^attendants whenever they journeyed through 
the country on a "royal progress." The price offered by the purveyors 
was always much below the real value of what was taken, and fre- 
quently even that was not paid. Purveyance, which had existed from 
the earliest times, was not finally abolished until 1660. 



RELIGION. 

372. Suppression of Heresy. — Under Henry IV. the first act was 
passed by lords and clergy (without assent of the House of Commons), 
punishing heretics, by burning at the stake, and the first martyr suffered 
in that reign. Later, the Lollards, or followers of WyclhTe, who appear 
in many cases to have been socialists as well as religious reformers, 
were punished by imprisonment, and occasionally with death. The 
whole number of martyrs, however, was but small. 

MILITARY AFFAIRS. 

373. Armor and Arms. — The armor of the period was made of 
steel plate, fitting and completely covering the body. It was often 
inlaid with gold and elegantly ornamented. Firearms had not yet 
superseded the old weapons. Cannon were in use, and also clumsy 
hand-guns fired with a match. The long-bow continued to be the chief 
arm of the foot-soldiers, and was used with great dexterity and fatal 
effect. Targets were set up by law in every parish, and the yeomen 
were required to practise at contests in archery frequently. The prin- 
cipal wars were the civil wars and those with France. 



THE SELF-DESTRUCTION OF FEUDALISM. \*JJ 



LITERATURE, LEARNING, AND ART. 

374. Introduction of Printing ; Books. — The art of printing was 
introduced into England about 147 1 by Caxton, a London merchant. 
Up to that time all books had been written on either parchment or 
paper, at an average rate of about fifty cents per page in modern 
money. The age was not favorable to literature, and produced no great 
writers. But Caxton edited and published a large number of works, 
many of which he translated from the French and Latin. The two 
books which throw most light on the history of the times are the Sir 
John Paston Letters (1424-1506), and a work by Chief Justice For- 
tescue, on government, intended for the use of Prince Edward (slain 
at Tewkesbury). The latter is remarkable for its bold declaration 
that the king " has the delegation of power from the people, and he 
has no just claims to any other power than this." The chief justice also 
praises the courage of his countrymen, and declares with honest pride 
that " more Englishmen are hanged in England in one year for rob- 
bery and manslaughter than are hanged in France in seven years." 

375. Education. — Henry VI. took a deep interest in education, 
and founded the great public school of Eton, which ranks next in age to 
that of Winchester. The money for its endowment was obtained by 
the appropriation of the revenues of alien or foreign monasteries which 
had been erected in England, and which were confiscated by Henry V. 
The king watched the progress of the building from the windows of 
Windsor. Castle, and to supplement the course of education to be given 
there, he furthermore erected and endowed the magnificent King's 
College, Cambridge. 

376. Architecture. — A new development of Gothic architecture 
occurred during this period, the Decorated giving place to the Perpen- 
dicular. The latter derived its name from the perpendicular divisions 
of the lights in the arches of the windows. It marks the final period of 
the Gothic or Pointed style, and is noted for the exquisite carved work 
of its ceilings. King's College Chapel, Cambridge, St. George's Chapel, 
Windsor, and Henry VII.'s Chapel (built in the next reign), connected 
with Westminster- Abbey, are among the most celebrated examples of 
this style of architecture, which is peculiar to England. 



I78 LEADING FACTS OF ENGLISH HISTORY. 

The mansions of the nobility at this period exhibited great elegance. 
Crosby Hall, London, at one time the residence of Richard III., and 
still standing, is a fine specimen of the " Inns," as they were called, 
of the great families and wealthy knights. 

GENERAL INDUSTRY AND COMMERCE. 

377. Agriculture and Trade. — Notwithstanding the civil wars of 
the Roses, agriculture was prosperous, and foreign trade largely in- 
creased. The latter was well represented by Sir Richard Whittington, 
thrice mayor of London, who, according to tradition, lent Henry V. 
large sums of money, and then at an entertainment which he gave to 
the king and queen in his city mansion, generously cancelled the debt 
by throwing the bonds into the open sandal-wood fire. 

Goldsmiths from Lombardy had now settled in London in such num- 
bers as to give the name of Lombard Street to the quarter they occu- 
pied. They succeeded the Jews in the business of money-lending and 
banking, and Lombard Street still remains famous for its bankers and 
brokers. 

MODES OF LIFE, MANNERS, AND CUSTOMS. 

378. Dress. — Great sums were spent on dress by both sexes, and 
the courtiers' doublets, or jackets, were of the most costly silks and 
velvets, elaborately puffed and slashed. During the latter part of the 
period the pointed shoes, which had formerly been of prodigious length, 
suddenly began to grow broad, with such rapidity that Parliament passed 
a law limiting the width of the toes to six inches. At the same time 
the court ladies adopted the fashion of wearing horns as huge in pro- 
portion as the noblemen's shoes. The government tried legislating them 
down, and the clergy fulminated a solemn curse against them ; but 
fashion was more powerful than church and Parliament combined, and 
horns and hoofs came out triumphant 



POLITICAL REACTION. 



1/9 



VIII. 

"One half her soil has walked the rest 
In heroes, martyrs, poets, sages." 



O. W. Holmes. 



POLITICAL REACTION. — ABSOLUTISM OF THE CROWN, 

—THE ENGLISH REFORMATION AND 

THE NEW LEARNING. 

CROWN or POPE? 

House of Tudor.— 1485-1 603. 

Henry VII., 1485-1509. Edward VI., 1547-1553. 

Henry VIII., 1509-1547. Mary, 1553-1558. 

Elizabeth, 1558-1603. 

379. Union of the Houses of Lancaster and York. — Before 
leaving the continent, Henry Tudor had promised the Yorkist 
party that he would marry Elizabeth, eldest daughter of Edward 
IV., and sister to the young princes murdered by Richard III. 
Such a marriage would unite the rival houses of Lancaster and 
York, and thus put an end to the civil war. A few months after 
the new king's accession the wedding was duly celebrated, and 
in the beautiful east window of stained glass in Henry VII.'s 
Chapel, Westminster Abbey, the Roses are seen joined j so that, 
as the quaint verse of that day says : — 

" Both roses flourish — red and white — 
In love and sisterly delight; 
The two that were at strife are blended, 
And all old troubles now are ended." 



l80 LEADING FACTS OF ENGLISH HISTORY. 

Peace came from the union, but it was peace interrupted by in- 
surrections. 1 

380. Condition of the Country; Power of the Crown. — 

Henry, it is said, had his claim to the throne printed by Caxton, 
and distributed broadcast over the country. It was the first polit- 
ical appeal to the people made through the press, and was a sign 
of the new period upon which English history had entered. Since 
Caxton began his work, the kingdom had undergone a most mo- 
mentous change. The great nobles, like the Earl of Warwick, 
were, with few exceptions, dead, their estates confiscated, their 
thousands of followers either buried on the battle-field or dis- 
persed throughout the land. The small number of titled families 
remaining was no longer to be feared. The nation itself, though 
it had taken comparatively little part in the war, was weary of 
bloodshed, and ready for peace on any terms. 

The accession of the house of Tudor marks the beginning of a 
long period of well-nigh absolute royal power. The nobility were 

i Origin of the House of Tudor. 

Edward III. 
i a 3 4j 5 

Edward, William, Lionel, Duke John of Gaunt, Edmund, Duke of York. 

(the Black no issue. of Clarence, Duke of JLan- | 

Prince) from whom caster. | 

| descended in | Edward, Duke Richard, Earl of 

Richard II. a direct line in Henry IV. of York, no is- Cambridge, married 

the fourth gen- sue. Anne Mortimer, 

eration *Itich- great-granddaughter 

ard, Duke of Lionel, Duke of 

of York. Henry V. (Catharine, his widow, Clarence; their son 

_] | married was Richard , 

~j Henry VI. Owen Tudor, Duke of York. 
Edward IV. Richard III. a Welsh gentleman). 

I ' 1 1 Edmund Tudor, Earl of Rich- 

jSdwarfV. fRichard, Elizabeth mond m. Margaret Beaufort, a 

Duke of York. of York, descendant of John of Gaunt, Duke 
m. Henry VII. of Lancaster. See pp. 172 and 163. 
(of Lancaster). I 

Henry (Tudor) VII. (formerly 

Earl of Richmond), m. Elizabeth 

of York, thus uniting the Houses of 

Lancaster (Red Rose) and York 

(White Rose) in the new Royal 

House of Tudor. 

* Inherited the title Duke of York from his uncle Edward. See No. 5. 
f The princes murdered by Richard III. 



POLITICAL REACTION. l8l 

too weak to place any check on the king ; the clergy, who had not 
recovered from their dread of Lollardism and its attacks on their 
wealth and influence, were anxious for a strong conservative gov- 
ernment such as Henry promised ; as for the commons, they had 
no clear united policy, and though the first Parliament put certain 
restraints on the crown, yet they were never really enforced. 1 The 
truth is, that the new king was both too prudent and too crafty to 
give them an opportunity. By avoiding foreign wars he dispensed 
with the necessity of summoning frequent parliaments, and also 
with demands for large sums of money. By thus ruling alone for 
a large part of the time, Henry got the management of affairs into 
his own hands, and transmitted the power to those who came after 
him. In this way the Tudors with their successors, the Stuarts, 
built up that system of " personal sovereignty " which continued 
for a hundred and fifty years, until the outbreak of a new civil war 
brought it to an end forever. 

381. Growth of a Stronger Feeling of Nationality. — It would 
be an error, however, to consider this absolutism of the crown as 
an unmitigated evil. On the contrary, it was in one important 
direction an advantage. There are times when the great need of 
a people is not more individual liberty, but greater national unity. 
Spain and France were two countries consisting of a collection of 
petty feudal states, whose nobility were always trying to steal each 
other's possessions and cut each other's throats, until the rise in 
each of a royal despotism forced the turbulent barons to make 
peace, to obey a common central law, and by this means both 
realms ultimately developed into great and powerful kingdoms. 
When the Tudors came to the throne, England was still full of 

1 At the accession of Henry VII., Parliament imposed the following checks on 
the power of the king : — 

i. No new tax to be levied without consent of Parliament. 

2. No new law to be made without the same consent. 

3. No committal to prison without a warrant specifying the offence, and the 
trial to be speedy. 

4. Criminal charges and questions of fact in civil cases to be decided by jury. 

5. The king's officers to be held responsible to the nation. 



1 82 LEADING FACTS OF ENGLISH HISTORY. 

the rankling hate engendered by the Wars of the Roses. Held 
down by the heavy hand of Henry VII., and by the still heavier 
one of his son, the country learned the same salutary lesson of 
growth under repression which had benefited Spain and France. 
Henceforth Englishmen of all classes, instead of boasting that they 
belonged to the Yorkist or the Lancastrian faction, came to pride 
themselves on their loyalty to crown and country, and their readi- 
ness to draw their swords to defend both. 

382. Henry*s Methods of raising Money ; the Court of Star- 
Chamber. — Henry's reign was in the interest of the middle 
classes, — the farmers, tradesmen, and mechanics. His policy 
was to avoid heavy taxation, to exempt the poor from the bur- 
dens of state, and so ingratiate himself with a large body of the 
people. In order to accomplish this, he revived " benevolences," 
and by a device suggested by his chief minister, Cardinal Morton, 
and hence known and dreaded as " Morton's Fork," he extorted 
large sums from the rich and well-to-do. 1 The cardinal's agents 
made it their business to learn every man's income, and visit him 
accordingly. If, for instance, a person lived handsomely, the car- 
dinal would insist on a correspondingly liberal gift ; if, however, 
a citizen lived very plainly, the king's minister insisted none the 
less, telling the unfortunate man that by his economy he must 
surely have accumulated enough to bestow the required " benevo- 
lence." 2 Thus on one prong or the other of his terrible " fork " 
the shrewd cardinal impaled his writhing victims, and speedily 
filled the royal treasury as it had never been filled before. 3 

1 Those whose income from land was less than £2, or whose movable property 
did not exceed ^15 (say $150 and $1125 now), were exempt. The lowest rate of 
assessment for the " benevolences " was fixed at twenty pence on the pound on land, 
and half that rate on other property. 

2 Richard Reed^ a London alderman, refused to contribute a " benevolence." He 
was sent to serve as a soldier in the Scotch wars at his own expense, and the gen- 
eral received government orders to " use him in all things according to sharp mili- 
tary discipline." The effect was such that few after that ventured to deny the king 
what he asked. 

S Henry is said to have accumulated a fortune of nearly two millions sterling; 
an amount which would perhaps represent upwards of $150,000,000 now. 



POLITICAL REACTION. 1 83 

But Henry had other methods for raising money. He sold offi- 
ces in church and state, and took bribes for pardoning rebels. 
When he summoned a parliament he obtained grants for putting 
down some real or pretended insurrection, or to defray the expen- 
ses of a threatened attack from abroad, and then quietly pocketed 
the appropriation, — a device not altogether unknown to modern 
government officials. A third and last method for getting funds 
was invented in Henry's behalf by two lawyers, Empson and 
Dudley, who were so rapacious and cut so close that they were 
commonly known as " the king's skin-shearers." They went about 
the country enforcing old and forgotten laws, by which they reaped 
a. rich harvest. Their chief instrument for gain, however, was a 
revival of the Statute of Liveries, which imposed enormous fines 
on those noblemen who dared to equip their followers in military 
garb, or designate them by a badge equivalent to it, as had been 
their custom during the civil wars. 1 

In order to thoroughly enforce the Statute of Liveries, Henry re- 
organized the Court of Star-Chamber, so called from the starred 
ceiling where the tribunal met. This court had originally for its 
object the punishment of such crimes committed by the great 
families, or their adherents, as the ordinary law courts could not, 
or through intimidation dared not, deal with. It had no power to 
inflict death, but might impose long terms of imprisonment and 
ruinous fineSo It, too, first made use of torture in England to 
extort confessions of guilt. ' 

Henry seems to have enforced the law of Livery against friend 
and foe alike. Said the king to the Earl of Oxford, as he left his 
castle, where a large number of retainers in uniform were drawn 
up to do him honor, " My Lord, I thank you for your entertain- 
ment, but my attorney must speak to you." The attorney, who 
was the notorious Empson, brought suit in the Star-Chamber 
against the earl, who was fined 15,000 marks, or something like 
$750,000, for the incautious display he had made. 

1 See Paragraph No. 348. 



si 



184 LEADING FACTS OF ENGLISH HISTORY. 

383. The Introduction of Artillery strengthens the Power of 
the King. — ■ It was easier for Henry to pursue this arbitrary course 
because the introduction of artillery had changed the art of war. 
Throughout the Middle Ages the call of a great baron had, as 
Macaulay says, been sufficient to raise a formidable revolt. Coun- 
trymen and followers took down their tough yew long-bows from 
the chimney-corner, knights buckled on their steel armor, mounted 
their horses, and in a few days an army threatened the throne, 
which had no troops save those furnished by loyal subjects. 

But now that men had digged " villanous saltpetre out of the 
bowel's of the harmless earth" to manufacture powder, and that 
others had invented cannon, " those devilish iron engines," as the 
poet Spenser called them, " ordained to kill," all was different. 
Without artillery, the old feudal army, with its bows, swords, and 
battle-axes, could do little against a king like Henry who had it. 
For this reason, the whole kingdom lay at his mercy ; and though 
the nobles and the rich might groan, they saw that it was useless to 
fight 

384. The Pretenders Symnel and Warbeck. — During Henry's 
reign, two pretenders laid claim to the crown : Lambert Symnel, 
who represented himself to be Edward Plantagenet, nephew ot 
the late king; and Perkin Warbeck, who asserted that he was 
Richard, Duke of York, generally and rightly supposed to have 
been murdered in the Tower by his uncle, Richard III. Symnel's 
attempt was easily suppressed, and he commuted his claim to the 
crown for the position of scullion in the king's kitchen. Warbeck 
kept the kingdom in a turmoil for more than five years, during 
which time one hundred and fifty of his adherents were executed, 
and their bodies exposed on gibbets along the South shore to deter 
their master's French supporters from landing. At length Warbeck 
was captured, imprisoned, and finally hanged at Tyburn. 

385. Henry's Politic Marriages. — Henry accomplished more 

by the marriages of his children and by diplomacy than other mon- 
archs had by their wars. He gave his daughter Margaret to King 



POLITICAL REACTION. I85 

James IV. of Scotland, and thus prepared the way for the union of 
the two kingdoms. He married his eldest son, Prince Arthur, to 
Catharine of Aragon, daughter of the king of Spain, by which 
he secured a very large marriage portion for the prince, and what 
was of equal importance, the alliance of Spain against France. 
Arthur died soon afterwards, and the king got a dispensation from 
the Pope, granting him permission to marry his younger son Henry 
to Arthur's widow. It was this prince who eventually became king 
of England, with the title of Henry VIII., and we shall hereafter 
see that this marriage was destined by its results to change the 
whole course of the country's history. 

386. The "World as known at Henry's Accession. — The 

king -also took some small part in certain other events, which 
seemed to him, at the time, of less consequence than these matri- 
monial alliances, but which history has regarded in a different light 
from that in which the cunning and cautious monarch considered 
them. A glance at the map 1 will show how different our world is 
from that with which the English of Henry's time were acquainted. 
Then, the earth was not supposed to be a globe, but simply a flat 
body surrounded by the ocean. The only countries of which any- 
thing was certainly known, with the exception of Europe, were 
parts of Western Asia, together with a small strip of the northern 
and eastern coast of Africa. The knowledge which had once 
existed of India, China, and Japan appears to have died out in 
great measure with the travellers and merchants of earlier times 
who had brought it. The land farthest west of which anything was 
then known was Iceland. 

387. First Voyages of Exploration; the Cabots. — About the 
time of Henry's accession a new spirit of exploration sprang up. 
The Portuguese had coasted along Africa as far as the Gulf of 
Guinea, and there established trading-posts. Stimulated by what 
they had. done, Columbus, who believed the earth to be round, 

1 See Map No. 11, page 186. 



1 86 LEADING FACTS OF ENGLISH HISTORY. 

determined to sail westward in the hope of reaching the Indies. 
In 1492 he made his first voyage, and discovered one of the 
West India Islands. 

Five years later, John Cabot, a Venetian residing in Bristol, Eng- 
land, with his son Sebastian, who was probably born there, per- 
suaded the king to aid them in a similar undertaking. On a 
map drawn by the father after his return we read the following 
lines : "In the year of our Lord 1497, John Cabot and his son 
Sebastian discovered that country which no one before his time 
had ventured to approach, on the 24th June, about 5 o'clock in 
the morning." That entry records the discovery of Newfoundland, 
which led a few days later to that of the mainland of North Amer- 
ica, which was thus first seen by the Cabots. 

As an offset to that record we have the following, taken from the 
king's private account-book : "10. Aug. 1497, To him that foui '. 
the new isle ^10." 

Such was the humble beginning of a series of explorations which 
gave England possession of the largest part of the North American 
continent. 

388. Henry VII.'s Reign the Beginning of a New Epoch. — 

A few years after Cabot's return Henry laid the corner-stone of 
that "solemn and sumptuous chapel" which bears his own name, 
and which joins Westminster Abbey on the east. There he gave 
orders that his tomb should be erected, and that prayers should be 
said over it "as long as the world lasted." Emerson remarks 1 
that when the visitor to the Abbey mounts the flight of twelve 
olack marble steps which lead from it to the edifice where Henry 
lies buried, he passes from the mediaeval to the beginning of the 
modern age — a change which the architecture itself distinctly 
marks. The true significance of Henry's reign is, that it, in like 
manner, stands for a new epoch, new in modes of government, in 
law, in geographical discovery, in letters, art, and religion. 

The century just closing was indeed one of the most remarkable 

1 English Traits. 



No. 11. 

THE WORLD SHORTLY AFTER THE ACCESSION OF HENRY VII. 




Light arrows show voyages south made up to 1492; (light track, Da Gama's voyage, 

i4'97) • 

Dark arrows, voyages of Columbus and Cabot. 

White crosses, countries of which something was known before 1492. 

White area, including western coast of Africa, the world as known shortly after Henry 
VII.'s accession. 

To face page 186. 



POLITICAL REACTION. 1 87 

in history, not only in what it had actually accomplished, but still 
more in the seed it was sowing for the future. The artist Kaulbach, 
in his fresco entitled " The Age of the Reformation," 1 has summed 
up all that it was, and all that it was destined to become in its full 
development. Therein we see it as the period which witnessed 
the introduction of firearms, and the consequent overthrow of 
feudal warfare and feudal institutions ; the growth of the power of 
royalty and of nationality through royalty ; the sailing of Columbus 
and of Cabot ; the revival of classical learning ; the publication of 
the first printed book ; and finally, the birth of that monk, Martin 
Luther, who was to emancipate the human mind from its long 
bondage to unmeaning tradition and arbitrary authority. 

389. Summary. — Looking back, we find that with Henry the 
absolutism of the crown or "personal monarchy" began in Eng- 
land. Yet through its repressive power the country gained a pro- 
longed peace, and, despite " benevolences " and other exactions, 
it grew into stronger national unity. 

Simultaneously with this increase of royal authority came the 
discovery of a new world, in which England was to have the chief 
part. A century will elapse before those discoveries bear fruit. 
After that, our attention will no longer be confined to the British 
Islands, but will be fixed as well on that western continent where 
English enterprise and English love of liberty are destined to find 
a new and broader field of activity. 

HENRY VIII.— 1509-1547. 

390. Henry's Advantages. — Henry was not quite eighteen 
when he came to the throne. The country was at peace, was 
fairly prosperous, and the young king had everything in his favor. 
He was handsome, well-educated, and fond of athletic sports. His 
frank disposition won friends everywhere, and he had inherited 

1 Kaulbach's (Kowl'bak) Age of the Reformation : one of a historical series of 
colossal wall paintings in the Berlin Museum. 



1 88 LEADING FACTS OF ENGLISH HISTORY. 

from his father the largest private fortune that had ever descended 
to an English sovereign. Intellectually, he was in hearty sympathy 
with the revival of learning, then in progress both on the continent 
and in England. 

391. The New Learning; Colet, Erasmus, More. — During 
the greater part of the Middle Ages the chief object of education 
was to make men monks, and originally the schools established at 
Oxford and Cambridge were exclusively for that purpose. In their 
day they did excellent work ; but a time came when men ceased 
to found monasteries, and began to erect colleges and hospitals 
instead. 1 In the course of the fourteenth and fifteenth centuries 
William of Wykeham and King Henry VI. built and endowed col- 
leges which were specially designed to fit their pupils to live in 
the world and serve the state, instead of withdrawing from it to 
seek their own salvation. These new institutions encouraged a 
broader range of studies, and in Henry VI. 's time particular atten- 
tion was given to the Latin classics, hitherto but little known. The 
geographical discoveries of Henry VII.'s reign, made by Columbus, 
Cabot, and others, began to stimulate scientific thought, and it was 
evident that the day was not far distant when questions about 
the earth and the stars would no longer be settled by a text from 
Scripture which forbade further inquiry. 

With the accession of Henry VIII. education received a still 
further impulse. A few zealous" English scholars had just returned 
from Italy to Oxford, full of ardor for a new study, — that of Greek. 
Among them was a young clergyman named John Colet. He saw 
that by means of that language, of which the alphabet was as yet 
hardly known in England, men might put themselves in direct 
communication with the greatest thinkers and writers of the past. 
Better still, they might acquire the power of reading the Gospels 
and the writings of St. Paul in the original, and thus reach their 

1 In the twelfth century 418 monasteries were founded in England ; in the next 
century only about a third as many; in the fourteenth only 23; after that date theij 
establishment may be said to cease. 



POLITICAL REACTION. 1 89 

true meaning and feel their full influence. Colet's intimate friend 
and fellow-worker, the Dutch scholar Erasmus, had the same en- 
thusiasm. When in sore need of everything, he wrote in one of 
his letters, "As soon as I get some money I shall buy Greek 
books, and then I may buy some clothes." The third young man, 
who, with Erasmus and Colet devoted himself to the study of 
Greek and to the advancement of learning, was Thomas More, 
who later became lord chancellor. The three looked to King 
Henry for encouragement in the work they had undertaken ; nor 
did they look in vain. Colet, who had become a doctor of divin- 
ity and a dean of St. Paul's Cathedral, London, encountered a 
furious storm of opposition on account of his devotion to the 
" New Learning," as it was sneeringly called. His attempts at 
educational reform met the same resistance. But Henry stood by 
him, liking the man's spirit, and saying, " Let others have what 
doctors they will ; this is the doctor for me." The king also took 
a lively interest in Erasmus, who was appointed professor of Greek 
at Cambridge, where he began his great work of preparing an 
edition of the Greek Testament with a Latin translation in parallel 
columns. Up to this time the Greek Testament had existed in 
scattered manuscripts only. The publication of the work in printed 
form gave an additional impetus to the study of the Scriptures, 
helped forward the Reformation, and in a measure laid the foun- 
dation for a revised English translation of the Bible far superior 
to Wycliffe's. In the same spirit of genuine love of learning, 
Henry founded Trinity College, Cambridge, and at a later date 
confirmed and extended Cardinal Wolsey's endowment of Christ 
Church College, Oxford. 

392. Henry versus Luther. — The king continued, however, 
to be a stanch Catholic, and certainly had no thought at this 
period of doing anything which should tend to undermine that 
ancient form of worship. In Germany, Martin Luther was mak- 
ing ready to begin his tremendous battle against the power and 
teachings of the Papacy. In 1 5 1 7 he nailed to the door of the 



IQO LEADING FACTS OF ENGLISH HISTORY. 

church of Wittenberg that famous series of denunciations which 
started the movement that ultimately protested against the au- 
thority of Rome, and gave the name of Protestant to all who 
joined it. A few years later Henry published a reply to one of 
Luther's books, and sent a copy bound in cloth of gold to the 
Pope. The Pope was so delighted with what he termed Henry's 
" angelic spirit," that he forthwith conferred on him that title of 
" Defender of the Faith," which the English sovereigns have per- 
sisted in retaining to the present time, though for what reason, 
and with what right, even a royal intellect might be somewhat 
puzzled to explain. With the new and flattering title the Pope 
also sent the king a costly two-handed sword, intended to repre- 
sent Henry's zeal in smiting the enemies of Rome, but destined 
by fate to be the symbol of the king's final separation from the 
power that bestowed it, 

393. Victory of Flodden ; Field of the Cloth of Gold. —Politi- 
cally, Henry was equally fortunate. The Scotch had ventured to 
attack the kingdom during the king's absence on the continent. 
They were defeated at Flodden by the Earl of Surrey, with great 
slaughter. This victory placed Scotland at Henry's feet. 1 

The king of France and the emperor Charles V. of Germany 
now vied with each other in seeking Henry's alliance. The em- 
peror visited England in order to meet the English sovereign, 
while the king of France arranged an interview in his own domin- 
ions, known, from the magnificence of its appointments, as the 
" Field of the Cloth of Gold." Henry held the balance of power 
by which he could make France or Germany predominate as he 
saw fit. It was owing to his able diplomatic policy that England 
reaped advantages from both sides, and advanced from a compar- 
atively low position to one that was fully abreast of the foremost 
nations of Europe. 

394. Henry's Marriage with, his Brother's Widow. — Such 
was the king at the outset. In less than twenty years he had be- 
come another man. At the age of twelve he had married, 2 at his 

ISee Scott's Marmion. 2 See Hallam ; other authorities call it a solemn betrothal. 



POLITICAL REACTION. I^l 

father's command, and solely for political and mercenary reasons, 
Catharine of Aragon, his brother Arthur's widow, who was six 
years his senior. Such a marriage was forbidden, except in cer- 
tain cases, both by the Old Testament and by the ordinances of the 
Roman Catholic Church. The Pope, however, had granted his 
permission, and when Henry ascended the throne, the ceremony 
was performed a second time. Several children were the fruit of 
this union, all of whom died in infancy, except one daughter, 
Mary, unhappily fated to figure as the " Bloody Mary " of later 
history. 

395. The King's Anxiety for a Successor; Anne Boleyn. — 

No woman had yet ruled in her own right, either in England or in 
any prominent kingdom of Europe ; and Henry was so anxious 
to have a son to succeed him, that he could not bear the thought 
of being disappointed ; in fact he sent the Duke of Buckingham 
to the block for casually saying, that if the king died without 
issue, he should consider himself entitled to receive the crown. 

It was while meditating this question of the succession, that 
Henry became attached to Anne Boleyn, one of the queen's maids 
of honor, a sprightly brunette of nineteen, with long black hair 
and strikingly beautiful eyes. 

The light that shone in those eyes, though hardly that " Gospel- 
light " which the poet calls it, 1 was yet bright enough to effectually 
clear up all difficulties in the royal mind. The king now felt con- 
scientiously moved to obtain a divorce from the old wife, and to 
marry a new one. In that determination lay most momentous 
consequences, since it finally separated England from the jurisdic- 
tion of the church of Rome. 

396. Wolsey favors the Divorce from Catharine. — Cardinal 
Wolsey, Henry's chief counsellor, lent his powerful aid to bring 
about the divorce, but with the expectation that the king would 
marry a princess of France, and thus form an alliance with that 

1 " When love could teach a monarch to be wise, 

And Gospel-light first dawned from Bullen's [Boleyn's] eyes." — GRAY. 



192 LEADING FACTS OF ENGLISH HISTORY. 

country. If so, his own ambitious schemes would be forwarded, 
since the united influence of the two kingdoms might elevate him 
to the Papacy. When Wolsey learned that the king's choice 
was Anne Boleyn, he fell on his knees, and begged him not to 
persist in his purpose ; but his entreaties had no effect, and the 
cardinal was obliged to continue what he had begun. 

397. The Court at Blackfriars. — Application had been made 
to the Pope to annul the marriage with Catharine on the ground 
of illegality; but the Pope was in the power of the emperor, 
Charles V., who was the queen's nephew. Vexatious delays now 
became the order of the day. At last, a court composed of Car- 
dinal Wolsey and Cardinal Campeggio, an Italian, as papal legates, 
or representatives, was convened at Blackfriars, London, to test 
the validity of the marriage. Henry and Catharine were sum- 
moned. The first appeared and answered to his name. When 
the queen was called she declined to answer, but throwing herself 
at Henry's feet, begged him with tears and sobs not to put her 
away without cause. Finding him inflexible, she left the court, 
and refused to attend again, appealing to Rome for justice. 

This was in the spring of 1529. Nothing was done that sum- 
mer, and in the autumn, the court, instead of reaching a decision, 
dissolved. Campeggio, the Italian legate, returned to Italy, and 
Henry, to his disappointment and rage, received an order from 
Rome to carry the question to the Pope for settlement. 

398. Fall of Wolsey. — Both the king and Anne Boleyn be- 
lieved that Wolsey had played false with them. They now resolved 
upon his destruction. The cardinal had a presentiment of his 
impending doom. The French ambassador, who saw him at this 
juncture, said that his face had shrunk to half its size. But his 
fortunes were destined to shrink even more than his face. By 
a law of Richard II. no representative of the Pope had any 
rightful authority in England. 1 Though the king had given his 
consent to Wolsey's holding the office of legate, yet now that a 

1 See Paragraph No. 317. 






POLITICAL REACTION. 193 

contrary result to what he expected had been reached, he pro- 
ceeded to prosecute him to the full extent of the law. 

It was an easy matter to crush the cardinal. His arrogance and 
extravagant ostentation had excited the jealous hate of the nobil- 
ity ; his constant demands for money in behalf of the king had set 
Parliament against him ; and his exactions from the common peo- 
ple had, as the chronicle of the time tells us, made them weep, 
beg, and " speak cursedly." Wolsey bowed to the storm, and to 
save himself gave up everything; his riches, pomp, power, all van- 
ished as suddenly as they had come. It was Henry's hand that 
stripped him, but it was Anne Boleyn who moved that hand. 
Well might the humbled favorite say of her : — 

" There was the weight that pulled me down. 
... all my glories 
In that one woman I have lost forever." 1 

Thus deprived of well-nigh everything but life, Wolsey was per- 
mitted to go into retirement in the north; but a twelvemonth 
later he was arrested on a charge of high treason ; and as the irony 
of fate would have it, the warrant was served by a former lover of 
Anne Boleyn's, whom Wolsey, it is said, had separated from her in 
order that she might consummate her unhappy marriage with roy- 
alty. On the way to London Wolsey fell mortally ill, and turned 
aside at Leicester to die in the abbey there, with the words : — 

" . . . O, Father Abbot, 
An old man, broken with the storms of state, 
Is come to lay his weary bones among ye : 
Give him a little earth for charity ! " 2 

399. Appeal to the Universities. — Before Wolsey's death, Dr. 
Thomas Cranmer, of Cambridge, suggested that the king lay the 
divorce question before the universities of Europe. Henry caught 
eagerly at this proposition, and exclaimed, " Cranmer has the right 
pig by the ear." The scheme was at once adopted. Several uni- 

* Shakespeare's Henry VIII., Act III. Sc. 2. 
2 Shakespeare's Henry VIII., Act IV. Sc.2. 



194 LEADING FACTS OF ENGLISH HISTORY. 

versities returned favorable answers. In a few instances, as at 
Oxford and Cambridge, where the authorities hesitated, a judicious 
use of bribes or threats soon brought them to see the matter in a 
proper light. 

400. The Clergy declare Henry Head of the Church. — Armed 
with these decisions in his favor, Henry now charged the whole 
body of the English church with being guilty of the same crime of 
which Wolsey had been accused. In their terror they made haste 
to buy a pardon at a cost reckoned at nearly $5,000,000 at the 
present value of money. They furthermore declared Henry to be 
the supreme head on earth of the church of England, adroitly 
adding, " in so far as is permitted by the law of Christ." Thus 
the Reformation came into England "by a side door, as it were." 
Nevertheless, it came. 

401. Henry marries Anne Boleyn; Act of Supremacy.— 

Events now moved rapidly toward a crisis. Thomas Cromwell, 
Wolsey's former servant and fast friend, succeeded him in the 
king's favor. In 1533, after having waited over five years, Henry 
privately married Anne, and she was soon after crowned in West- 
minster Abbey. When the Pope was informed of this, he or- 
dered the king, under pain of excommunication, to put her away, 
and to take back Catharine. In 1534 Parliament met that de- 
mand by passing the Act of Supremacy, which declared Henry to 
be without reservation the sole head of the church, making denial 
thereof high treason. 1 As he signed the act, the king with one 
stroke of his pen overturned the traditions of a thousand years, 
and England stood boldly forth with a national church independent 
j M the Pope. 

402. Subserviency of Parliament. — But as Luther said, 
Henry had a pope within him. Through Cromwell's zealous aid 

1 Henry's full title was now " Henry VIII., by the Grace of God, King of Eng- 
land, France, and Ireland, Defender of the Faith and of the Church of England, 
and also of Ireland, on earth the Supreme Head." 



POLITICAL REACTION. I95 

he now proceeded to prove it. We have already seen that since 
the Wars of the Roses had destroyed the power of the barons, 
there was no effectual check on the despotic will of the king. The 
new nobility were the creatures of the crown, and hence bound to 
support it; the clergy were timid, the commons anything but 
bold, so that Parliament gradually became the servile echo and 
ready instrument of the throne, and empowered the king on his 
reaching the age of twenty-four to annul whatever legislative enact- 
ments he pleased of those which had been passed since his acces- 
sion. It now humiliated itself still further by promulgating that 
law, in itself the destruction of all law, which enabled Henry by his 
simple proclamation to declare any opinions he disliked, heretical, 
and punishable with death. 

403. Execution of More and Fisher. — Cromwell in his crooked 
and cruel policy had reduced bloodshed to a science. He first 
introduced the practice of condemning an accused prisoner with- 
out allowing him to speak in his own defence. No one was now 
safe who did not openly side with the king. Sir Thomas More, 
who had been lord chancellor, and the aged Bishop Fisher were 
executed because they could not affirm that they conscientiously 
believed that Henry was morally and spiritually entitled to be the 
head of the English church. Both died with Christian fortitude. 
More said to the governor of the Tower with a flash of his old 
humor, as the steps leading to the scaffold shook while he was 
mounting them, " Do you see me safe up, and I will make shift 
to get down by myself." 

404. Suppression of the Monasteries ; Seizure of their Prop- 
erty. — When the intelligence of the judicial murder of the ven- 
erable ex- chancellor reached Rome, the Pope proceeded to issue a 
bull of excommunication and deposition against Henry, by which 
he delivered his soul to the devil, and his kingdom to the first in- 
vader. The king retaliated by the suppression of the monasteries. 
In doing so, he simply hastened a process which had already 
begun. Years before, Cardinal Wolsey had not scrupled to shut up 



I96 LEADING FACTS OF ENGLISH HISTORY. 

several, and take their revenues to found a college at Oxford. The 
truth was, that monasticism had done its work, and as a recent 
writer has well said, " was dead long before the Reformation came 
to bury it." * 

Henry, however, had no such worthy object as Wolsey had. 
His pretext was that these institutions had sunk into a state of 
ignorance, drunkenness, and profligacy. 

Their vices, however, the king had already made his own. It 
was their wealth which he now coveted. The smaller religious 
houses were speedily swept out of existence. This caused a furi- 
ous insurrection in the north, but the revolt was soon put down. 

Though Parliament had readily given its sanction to the extinc- 
tion of the smaller monasteries, it hesitated about abolishing the 
greater ones. Henry, it is reported, sent for a leading member of 
the House of Commons, and laying his hand on the head of the 
kneeling representative, said, " Get my bill passed by to-morrow, 
little man, or else to-morrow this head of yours will come off.' 
The next day the bill passed, and the work of destruction begai* 
anew. It involved the confiscation of millions of property, and 
the summary execution of abbots, who, like those of Glastonbury 
and Charter House, dared to resist. 2 

The magnificent monastic buildings throughout England were 
now stripped of everything of value, and left as ruins. The 
beautiful windows of stained glass were wantonly broken; the 
images of the saints were cast down from, their niches; the 
chimes of bells were melted and cast into cannon ; while the valu- 
able libraries were torn up and sold to grocers and soap-boilers 
for wrapping-paper. At Canterbury, Becket's tomb was broken 
open, and after he had been four centuries in his grave, the saint 
was summoned to answer a charge of rebellion and treason. The 
case was tried at Westminster Abbey, the martyr's bones were 

1 Armitage, Childhood of the English Nation. 

2 The total number of religious houses destroyed was 645 monasteries, 2374 
chapels, 90 collegiate churches, and no charitable institutions. Among the most 
famous of these ruins are Kirkstall, Furness, Netley, Tintern, and Fountains Abbeys. 



POLITICAL REACTION. 197 

sentenced to be burned, and the jewels and rich offerings of his 
shrine were seized by the king. ■ 

Among the few monastic buildings which escaped was the beau- 
tiful abbey church of Peterborough, where Catharine of Aragon, 
who died soon after the king's marriage with her rival, was buried. 
Henry had the grace to give orders that on her account it should 
be spared, saying that he would leave to her memory " one of 
the goodliest monuments in Christendom." 

The great estates thus suddenly acquired by the crown were 
granted tc favorites or thrown away at the gambling- table. " It is 
from this date," says Hallam, " that the leading families of Eng- 
land, both within and without the peerage, became conspicuous 
through having obtained possession of the monastery lands." 
These were estimated to comprise about one-fourth of the whole 
area of the kingdom. 

405. Effects of the Destruction of the Monasteries. — The 

sweeping character of this act had a twofold effect. First, it made 
the king more absolute than before, for, since it removed the 
abbots, who had had seats in the House of Lords, that body was 
made just so much smaller and less able to resist the royal will. 

Next, the abolition of so many religious institutions necessarily 
caused great misery to those who were turned out upon the world 
destitute of means and without ability to work. In the end, how- 
ever, no permanent injury was done, since the monasteries, by 
their -profuse and indiscriminate charity, had . undoubtedly en- 
couraged much of the very pauperism which they had relieved. 

406. Distress among the Laboring Classes. — An industrial 
revolution was also in progress at this time which was productive 
of wide-spread suffering. It had begun early in Henry's reign 
through the great numbers of discharged soldiers, who could not 
readily find work. Sir Thomas More had given a striking picture 
of their miserable condition in his " Utopia," a book in which he 
urged the government to consider measures for their relief; but the 
evil had since become much worse. Farmers, having discovered 



I98 LEADING FACTS OF ENGLISH HISTORY. 

that wool-growing was more profitable than the raising of grain, 
had turned their fields into sheep-pastures ; so that a shepherd 
with his dog now took the place of several families of laborers. 
This change brought multitudes of poor people to the verge of 
starvation ; and as the monasteries no longer existed to hold out a 
helping hand, the whole realm was overrun with beggars and 
thieves. Bishop Latimer, a noted preacher of that day, declared 
that if every farmer should raise two acres of hemp, it would not 
make rope enough to hang them all. Henry, however, set to work 
with characteristic vigor, and it is said made way with over 70,000, 
but without materially abating the evil. 

407. Execution of Anne Boleyn; Marriage with Jane Sey- 
mour. — In 1536, less than three years after her coronation, the 
new queen, Anne Boleyn, for whom Henry had " turned England 
and Europe upside down," was accused of unfaithfulness. She 
was sent a prisoner to the Tower. A short time after, her head 
rolled in the dust, the light of its beauty gone out forever. 

The next morning Henry married Jane Seymour, Anne's maid 
of honor. Parliament passed an act of approval, declaring that it 
was all done " of the king's most excellent goodness." A year later 
the queen died, leaving a son, Edward. She was no sooner gone 
than the king began looking about for some one to take her place. 

408. More Marriages. — This time Cromwell had projects of 
his own for a German Protestant alliance. He succeeded in per- 
suading his master to agree to marry Anne of Cleves, whom the 
king had never seen, but whom the painter Holbein represented in 
a portrait as a woman of surpassing beauty. 

When Anne reached England, Henry hurried to meet her with 
all a lover's ardor. To his dismay, he found that not only was she 
ridiculously ugly, but that she could speak nothing but Dutch, of 
which he did not understand a word. Matters, however, had gone 
too far to retract, and the marriage was duly solemnized. The 
king obtained a divorce within six months, and then took his 
revenge by cutting off Cromwell's head. 



POLITICAL REACTION. 1 99 

The same year Henry married Catharine Howard, a fascinating 
girl still in her teens, whose charms so moved the king that it is 
said he was tempted to have a special thanksgiving service pre- 
pared to commemorate the day he found her. Unfortunately, 
Catharine had fallen into dishonor before her marriage. She tried 
hard to keep the terrible secret, but finding it impossible, confessed 
her fault. For such cases Henry had no mercy. The queen was 
tried for high treason, and soon walked that road in which Anne 
Boleyn had preceded her. 

Not to be baffled in his matrimonial experiments, the king, in 
1543, took Catherine Parr for his sixth and last wife. She, too, 
would have gone to the block, on a charge of heresy, had not her 
quick wit saved her by a happily turned compliment, which flat- 
tered the king's self-conceit as a profound theologian. 

409. Henry's Action respecting Religion. — Though occupied 
with these rather numerous domestic infelicities, Henry was not 
idle in other directions. By an act known as the Six Articles, or, as 
the Protestants called it, the " Bloody Act," the king established a 
new form of religion, which was simply Papacy with the Pope left 
out. Geographically, the country was about equally divided be- 
tween Romanism and Protestantism. The northern and western 
half clung to the ancient faith ; the southern and eastern, includ- 
ing most of the large cities where Wycliffe's doctrines had formerly 
prevailed, was favorable to the Reformation. Henry did not throw 
his influence decidedly on either side, but made concessions to 
both. On the one hand, he prohibited the Lutheran doctrine ; on 
the other, he caused the Bible' to be translated, and ordered a copy 
to be chained to a desk in every parish church in England ; but 
though all persons might now freely read the Scriptures, no 
one but the clergy was allowed to interpret them. Later in his 
reign, the king became alarmed at the spread of discussion about 
religious subjects, and prohibited the reading of the Bible by the 
" lower sort of people." 



200 LEADING FACTS OF ENGLISH HISTORY. 

410. Heresy versus Treason. — Men now found themselves in 
a strange and cruel dilemma. If it was dangerous to believe too 
much, it was equally dangerous to believe too little. Traitor and 
heretic were dragged to execution on the same hurdle : the one 
a Catholic, who denied the king's supremacy, the other a Prot- 
estant, who refused to believe that the blessing of a priest could 
miraculously change a loaf of bread into the actual body of the 
Saviour. Thus Anne Askew, a young and beautiful woman, was 
nearly wrenched asunder on the rack, in the hope of making her 
implicate the queen in her heresy, and afterward burned because 
she persisted in declaring that the communion service is but a 
remembrance of Christ's death, or a sacrament of thanksgiving for 
it. On the other hand, the aged Countess of Salisbury suffered for 
treason ; but with a spirit matching the king's, she refused to kneel 
at the block, and told the executioner he must get her gray head 
off as best he could. 

411. Henry's Death. — But the time was at hand when Henry 
was to cease his hangings, beheadings, and marriages. Worn out 
with debauchery, he died at the aere of fifty-six, a loathsome, un- 
wieldy, and helpless mass of corruption. In his wil> he left a large 
sum of money to pay for perpetual prayers for the repose of his 
soul. Sir Walter Raleigh said of him, " If all the pictures and pat- 
terns of a merciless prince were lost in the world, they might all 
again be painted to the life out of the story of this king." It may 
be well to remember this, and along with it this other saying of 
the ablest living writer on English constitutional history, that " the 
world owes some of its greatest debts to men from whose memory 
it recoils." x The obligation it is under to Henry VIII. is that 
through his influence — no matter what the motive — England 
was lifted up out of the old mediaeval 'uts, and placed squarely 
and securely on the new highway of national progress. 

412. Summary. — In this reign we find that though England 
lost much of her former political freedom, yet she gained- that 

i Stubbs's Constitutional History of England, 



POLITICAL REACTION. 201 

order and peace which came from the iron hand of absolute 
power. Next, from the suppression of the monasteries, and the 
sale or gift of their lands to favorites of the king, three results 
ensued : ( i ) a new nobility was in great measure created, depen- 
dent on the crown; (2) the House of Lords was made less 
powerful by the removal of the abbots who had had seats in it ; 
(3) pauperism was for a time largely increased, and much distress 
caused. Finally, England completely severed her connection with 
the Pope, and established for the first time an independent 
national church, having the king as its head. 



Z- 



EDWARD VI.— 1547-1553. 



413. Bad Government ; Seizure of Unenclosed Lands ; High 
)lents ; Latimer's Sermon. — Edward, son of Henry VIII. by Jane 
Seymour, died at sixteen. In the first of his reign of six years 
the government was managed by his uncle, the Duke of Somerset, 
an extreme Protestant, whose intentions were good, but who lacked 
practical judgment. During the latter part of his life Edward fell 
under the control of the Duke of Northumberland, who was the 
head of a band of scheming and profligate men. They, with other 
nobles, seized the unenclosed lands of the country and fenced 
them in for sheep pastures, thus driving into beggary many who 
had formerly got a good part of their living from these commons. 
At the same time farm rents rose in some cases ten and even 
twenty- fold, 1 depriving thousands of the means of subsistence, and 
reducing many who had been in comfortable circumstances to 
poverty. 

The bitter complaints of the sufferers found expression in Bishop 
Latimer's outspoken sermon preached before the king, in which 
he said: "My father was a yeoman [small farmer], and had 
no lands of his own, only he had a farm of three or four pounds 

1 This was owing to the greed for land on the part of the mercantile classes, who 
had now acquired wealth, and wished to become landed proprietors. See Froude's 
England. 



202 LEADING FACTS OF ENGLISH HISTORY. 

[rent] by year, and hereupon tilled so much as kept half a 
dozen men ; he had walk [pasture] for a hundred sheep, and my 
mother milked thirty kine. He was able and did find the king 
a harness [suit of armor] with himself and his horse, until he 
came to the place where he should receive the king's wages. I 
can remember that I buckled his harness when he went into 
Blackheath Field. He kept me to school, or else I had not been 
able to have preached before the king's majesty now. He married 
my sisters with five pounds . . . apiece. He kept hospitality for his 
poor neighbors, and some alms he gave to the poor. And all this 
he did off the said farm, where he that now hath it payeth sixteen 
pounds a year or more, and is not able to do anything for his 
prince, for himself, nor for his children, or give a cup of drink to 
the poor." But as Latimer pathetically said, " Let the preacher 
preach till his tongue be worn to the stumps, nothing is amended." 1 

414. Edward establishes Protestantism. — Henry had estab- 
lished the Church of England as an independent organization. 
His son took the next great step, and made it Protestant in doc- 
trine. At his desire, Archbishop Cranmer compiled a book of 
Common Prayer, taken largely from the Roman Catholic Prayer- 
book. This collection all churches were now obliged by law to 
use. Edward's sister, the Princess Mary, was a firm Catholic. She 
refused to adopt the new service, saying to Ridley, who urged her 
to accept it as God's word, " I cannot tell what you call God's 
word, for that is not God's word now which was God's word in my 
father's time." It was at this period, also, that the Articles of 
Faith of the Church of England were first drawn up. 

415. King Edward and Mary Stuart. — Henry VIII. had at- 
tempted to marry his son Edward to young Queen Mary Stuart, 
daughter of the king of Scotland, but the match had been broken 
off. Edward's guardian now insisted that it should be carried out. 
He invaded Scotland with an army, and attempted to effect the 

i Latimer's first sermon before King Edward VI., 8th of March, 1549. 



POLITICAL REACTION. 203 

marriage by force of arms, at the battle of Pinkie. The English 
gained a decided victory, but the youthful queen, instead of giving 
her hand to young King Edward, left the country and married the 
son of the king of France. She will appear with melancholy 
prominence, in the reign of Elizabeth. Had she married Edward, 
we should perhaps have been spared that tragedy in which she 
was called to play both the leading and the. losing part. 

416. Renewed Confiscation of Church Property ; Schools 
founded. — The confiscation of such Roman Catholic church 
property as had been spared was now renewed. The result of this 
and of the abandonment of Catholicism was in certain respects 
disastrous to the country. In this general break-up, many who 
had been held in restraint by the old forms of faith now went to 
the other extreme, and rejected all religion. 

Part, however, of the money thus obtained from the sale of 
church property was devoted, mainly through Edward's influence, 
to the endowment of upwards of forty grammar schools, besides a 
number of hospitals, in different sections of the country. But for 
a long time the destruction of the monastic schools, poor as they 
were, was a serious blow to the education of the common people. 

417. Edward's London Charities; Christ's Hospital. — Just 
before his death Edward established Christ's Hospital, and re- 
founded and renewed the hospitals of St. Thomas and St. Bar- 
tholomew in London. Thus " he was the founder," says Burnet, 
" of those houses which, by many great additions since that time, 
have risen to be amongst the noblest of Europe." * 

Christ's Hospital was, perhaps, the first Protestant charity school 
opened in England; many more were patterned on it. It is 
generally known as the Blue-Coat School, from the costume of 
the boys — a relic of the days of Edward VI. This consists of a 
long blue coat, like a monk's gown, reaching to the ankles, girded 
with a broad leathern belt, long, bright yellow stockings, and 

1 Burnet : History of the Reformation in England. 



204 LEADING FACTS OF ENGLISH HISTORY. 

buckled shoes. The boys go bareheaded winter and summer. An 
exciting game of foot-ball, played in the schoolyard in this peculiar 
mediaeval dress, seems strangely in contrast with the sights of 
modern London streets. It is as though the spectator, by passing 
through a gateway, had gone back over three centuries of time. 
Coleridge, Lamb, and other noted men of letters were educated 
here, and have left most interesting reminiscences of their school 
life, especially the latter, in his delightful " Essays of Elia." 1 

418. Effect of Catholicism versus Protestantism. — Speaking 
of the Protestant Reformation, of which Edward VI. maybe taken 
as a representative, Macaulay remarks that " it is difficult to say 
whether England received most advantage from the Roman 
Catholic religion or from the Reformation. For the union of the 
Saxon and Norman races, and the abolition of slavery, she is 
chiefly indebted to the influences which the priesthood in the 
Middle Ages exercised over the people ; for political and intellect- 
ual freedom, and for all the blessings which they have brought in 
their train, she owes most to the great rebellion of the people 
against the priesthood." 

419. Summary. — The establishment of the Protestant faith in 
England, and of a large number of free Protestant schools known 
as Edward VI. 's schools, may be regarded as the leading events 
of Edward's brief reign of six years. 



V 



MARY.— 1553-1558. 



420. Lady Jane Grey claims the Crown. — On the death of 
Edward, Lady Jane Grey, a descendant of Henry VII., and a dis- 
tant relative of Edward VI., was persuaded by her father-in-law, 
the Duke of Northumberland, to assume the crown, w{iich had 
been left to her by the will of the late king. Edward's object in 
naming Lady Jane was to secure a Protestant successor, since 

1 See Lamb's Essays, " Christ's Hospital." Hospital, so called because intended 
for "poor, fatherless children." The word was then often used in the sense of 
asylum, or "home." ' 



POLITICAL REACTION. 205 

his elder sister, Mary, was a devout Catholic, while from his 
younger sister, Elizabeth, he seems for some reason to have been 
estranged. Mary was without doubt the rightful heir. 1 She re- 
ceived the support of the country, and Lady Jane Grey and her 
husband, Lord Dudley, were sent to the Tower. 

421. Question of Mary's Marriage; "Wyatt's Rebellion. — 

While they were confined there, the question of the queen's mar- 
riage came up. Out of several candidates for her hand, Mary 
gave preference to her cousin, Philip II. of Spain. Her choice 
was very unpopular, for it was known in England that Philip was a 
selfish and gloomy fanatic, who cared for nothing but the advance- 
ment of the Roman Catholic faith. 

An insurrection now broke out, led by Sir Thomas Wyatt, the 
object of Which was to place the Princess Elizabeth on the throne, 
and thus secure the crown to Protestantism. Lady Jane Grey's 
father was implicated in the rebellion. The movement ended in 
failure, the leaders were executed, and Mary ordered her sister 

1 Table showing some of the descendants of Henry VIL, with the respective 
claims of Queen Mary and Lady Jane Grey to the crown. 



Henry VII.* 




12 3 


4 


.1 1 1 

Arthur, b. i486, Henry VIII. Margaret. 


1 
Mary, m. 


d. 1 502, no issue. jj 


Charles 


1* """ ' "" ? * ;• James V. of 


Brandon. 


Mary, b. Elizabeth, Edward VI., Scotland, 


1 


1516^.1558. b. 1533, d. b. 1538, d. d. 1542. 


Frances 


1603. 1553. | 


Brandon, m. 


Mary Queen of 


Henry Grey. 


Scots, b. 1542, 


1 


d.1587. 


Jane Grey, 


I 


m. Lord Guil- 


James VI. of 


ford Dudley, 


Scotland and I. 


beheaded 


of England, 


1554- 


crowned 1603. 





* The heavy lines indicate the direct order of succession. Next after Henry VIII.'s de- 
scendants the claim would go to the descendants of Margaret (No. 3), and lastly to those of 
Mary, wife of Charles Brandon (No. 4). 



206 LEADING FACTS OF ENGLISH HISTORY. 

Elizabeth, who was thought to be in the plot, to be seized and 
imprisoned in the Tower. 

A little later, Lady Jane Grey and her husband perished on the 
scaffold. The name, JANE, deeply cut in the stone wall of the 
Beauchamp Tower, 1 remains as a memorial of the nine days' 
queen. She died at the age of seventeen, an innocent victim of 
the greatness which had been thrust upon her. 

422. Mary marries Philip II. of Spain ; Efforts to restore 
Catholicism. — A few months afterward the royal marriage was 
celebrated, but Philip soon found that the air of England had too 
much freedom in it to suit his delicate constitution, and he re- 
turned to the more congenial climate of Spain. 

From that time Mary, who was left to rule alone, directed all 
her efforts to the restoration of the Catholic church. She repealed 
the legislation of Henry VIII. 's and Edward VI. 's reign, so far as 
it gave support to Protestantism. The old relations with Rome 
were resumed. To accomplish her object in supporting her re- 
ligion, the queen resorted to the arguments of the dungeon, the 
rack, and the fagot, and Mary's chief advisers, Cardinal Pole, with 
Bishops Bonner and Gardiner, vied with each other in the work of 
persecution and death. 

423. Devices for reading the Bible. — The penalty for read- 
ing the English Scriptures, or for offering Protestant prayers, was 
death. In his autobiography, Benjamin Franklin says that one 
of his ancestors, who lived in England in Mary's reign, adopted 
the following expedient for giving his family religious instruction : 
He fastened an open Bible with strips of tape on the under side of 
a stool. When he wished to read it aloud he placed the stool up- 
side down on his knees, and turned the pages under the tape as 
he read them. One of the children stood watching at the door to 
give the alarm if any one approached ; in that case, the stool was 

1 The Beauchamp Tower is part of the Tower of London. On its walls are 
scores of names cut by those who were imprisoned in it 



POLITICAL REACTION. 207 

set quickly on its feet again on the floor, so that nothing could be 
seen. 

424. Religious Toleration Unknown in Mary's Age. — Mary 
would doubtless have bravely endured for her faith the full meas- 
ure of suffering which she inflicted. Her state of mind was that 
of all who then held strong convictions. Each party believed it a 
duty to convert or exterminate the other, and the alternative 
offered to the heretic was to " turn or burn." 

Sir Thomas More, who gave his life as a sacrifice to conscience 
in Henry's reign, was eager to put Tyndale to the torture for 
translating the Bible. Cranmer, who perished at Oxford, had 
been zealous in sending to the flames those who differed from him. 
Even Latimer, who died bravely at the stake, exhorting his com- 
panion Ridley " to be of good cheer and play the man, since they 
would light such a candle in England that day as in God's grace 
should not be put out," had abetted the kindling of slow fires 
under men as honest and determined as himself but on the oppo- 
site side. In like spirit Queen Mary kept Smithfield ablaze with 
martyrs, whose blood was the seed of Protestantism. Yet perse- 
cution under Mary never reached the proportions that it did on 
the continent. At the most, but a few hundred died in England 
for the sake of their religion, while Philip II,, during the last of 
his reign, covered Holland with the graves of Protestants, tor- 
tured and put to cruel deaths, or buried alive, by tens of thou- 
sands. 

425. Mary's Death. — But Mary's career was short. She 
died in 1558, near the close of an inglorious war with France, 
which ended in the fall of Calais, the last English possession on 
the continent. It was a great blow to her pride, and a serious 
humiliation to the country. "After my death," she said, "you 
will find Calais written on my heart." Could she have foreseen 
the future, her grief would have been greater still. For with the 
end of her reign the Pope lost all power in England, never to 
regain it. 



208 LEADING FACTS OF ENGLISH HISTORY. 

426. Mary deserving of Pity rather than Hatred. — Mary's 
name has come down to us associated with an epithet expressive 
of the utmost abhorrence ; but she deserves pity rather than 
hatred. Her cruelty was the cruelty of sincerity, never, as was her 
father's, the result of indifference or caprice. A little book of 
prayers which she left, soiled by constant use, and stained with 
many tears, tells the story of her broken and disappointed life. 
Separated from her mother, the unfortunate Catharine of Aragon, 
when she was only sixteen, she was ill-treated by Anne Boleyn 
and hated by her father. Thus the springtime of her youth was 
blighted. Her marriage brought her no happiness; sickly, ill- 
favored, childless, unloved, the poor woman spent herself for 
naught. Her first great mistake was that she resolutely turned her 
face toward the past ; her second, that she loved Philip of Spain 
with all her heart, soul, and strength, and so, out of devotion to a 
bigot, did a bigot's work, and earned that execration which never 
fails to be a bigot's reward. 

427. Summary. — This reign should be looked upon as a 
period of reaction. The temporary check which Mary gave to 
Protestantism deepened and strengthened it. Nothing builds up a 
religious faith like martyrdom, and the next reign showed that 
every heretic that Mary had burned helped to make at least a 
hundred more. 

ELIZABETH. — 1558-1603. 

428. Accession of Elizabeth. — Elizabeth was'the daughter of 
Henry VIII. and Anne Boleyn. At the time of Mary's death she 
was living in seclusion in Hatfield House, near London, spending 
most of her time in studying the Greek and Latin authors. When 
the news was brought to her, she was deeply moved, and exclaimed, 
" It is the Lord's doings ; it is marvellous in our eyes." Five days 
afterwards she removed to London by that road over which the 
last time she had travelled it she was being carried a prisoner to 
the Tower. 



POLITICAL REACTION. 



209 



429. Difficulty of Elizabeth's Position. — Her position was 
full of difficulty, if not absolute peril. Mary Stuart of Scotland, 
now by marriage queen of France, 1 claimed the English crown 
through descent from Henry VII., on the ground that Elizabeth, 
as daughter of Anne Boleyn, was not lawfully entitled to the throne, 
the Pope never having recognized Henry's second marriage. Both 
France and Rome supported this claim. On the other hand, 
Philip II. of Spain favored Elizabeth, but solely because he hoped 
to marry her and annex her kingdom to his dominions. Scotland 
was divided between two religious factions, and its attitude as an 
independent kingdom could hardly be called friendly. Ireland 
was a nest of desperate rebels, ready to join any attack on an 
English sovereign. 

>^30. Religions Parties. — But more dangerous than all, Eng- 
land was divided in its religion. In the north, many noble families 
stood by the old faith, and hoped to see the Pope's power restored. 
In the towns of the southeast, a majority favored the Protestant 
church of England as it had been organized under Edward VI. 

Besides these two great parties there were two more, who made 
up in zeal and determination what they lacked in numbers. One 
was the Jesuits ; the other, the Puritans. The Jesuits were a new 
Roman Catholic order, banded together to support the church and 
to destroy heresy ; openly or secretly their agents penetrated every 
country ; it was believed that they hesitated at nothing to gain 
their ends. The Puritans were Protestants who, like John Calvin of 
Geneva, and John Knox of Edinburgh, were bent on cleansing or 
"purifying" the reformed faith from every vestige of Catholicism. 
Many of them were what the rack and the stake had naturally 
made them, — hard, fearless, narrow, bitter. In Scotland they 
had got entire possession of the government; in England they 
were steadily gaining ground. They were ready to recognize the 
queen as head of the state church, they even wished that all per- 

1 After Elizabeth, Mary stood next in order of succession. See Table, Paragraph 
No. 421. 



2IO LEADING FACTS OF ENGLISH HISTORY. 

sons should be compelled to worship as the government pre- 
scribed, but they protested against such a church as Elizabeth 
and , the bishops then maintained. 

^431. The Queen's Choice of Counsellors. — Her policy from the 
beginning was one of compromise. In order to conciliate the 
Catholic party, she retained eleven of her sister Mary's counsellors, 
but added to them Sir William Cecil (Lord Burleigh), Sir Nicholas 
Bacon, and, later, Sir Francis Walsingham, with others who were 
favorable to the reformed faith. 

On his appointment, Elizabeth said to Cecil, " This judgment I 
have of you, that you will not be corrupted with any gifts, that you 
will be faithful to the state, and that without respect to my private 
will you will give me that counsel which you think best." Cecil 
served the queen until his death, forty years afterward. The 
almost implicit obedience with which Elizabeth followed his advice 
sufficiently proves that he was the real power not only behind, but 
generally above, the throne. 

432. The Coronation. — The bishops were Roman Catholic, 
and Elizabeth found it difficult to get one to perform the corona- 
tion services. At length the Bishop of Carlisle consented, but 
only on condition that the queen should take the ancient form of 
coronation oath, by which she virtually bound herself to support 
the Church of Rome. 1 To this Elizabeth agreed, and having 
consulted her astrologer, Dr. Dee, to fix a lucky day for the cere- 
mony, she was crowned by his advice on Sunday, Jan. 15, 1558. 

433. Changes in the Church Service; Religious Legislation. 

— The late Queen Mary, besides having repealed the legislation of 
the two preceding reigns, in so far as it was opposed to her own 
religious convictions, had restored the Roman Catholic Latin 
Prayer-Book. At Elizabeth's coronation, a petition was presented 

1 By this oath, every English sovereign from William the Conqueror to Elizabeth, 
and even as late as James II., with the single exception of Edward VI., swore to 
"preserve religion in the same state as did Edward the Confessor." This was 
changed to support Protestantism in 1688. 



POLITICAL REACTION. 211 

stating that it was the custom to release a certain number of pris- 
oners on such occasions. The petitioners, therefore, begged her 
majesty to set at liberty the four evangelists, Matthew, Mark, Luke, 
and John, and also the apostle Paul, who had been for some time 
shut up in a strange language. The English Service-Book, with 
some slight changes, was accordingly reinstated. v 

A bill was soon after passed requiring all clergymen, under 
penalty of imprisonment for life, to use it, and it only. The same 
act imposed a heavy fine on all persons who failed to attend the 
Church of England on Sundays or holidays. At that time church 
and state were supposed to be inseparable. No country in Europe, 
not even Protestant Germany, could then conceive the idea of 
their existing apart. Whoever, therefore, refused to sustain the 
established form of worship was looked upon as a rebel against 
the government. To try such rebels, a special court was organized 
by Elizabeth, called the High Commission Court. 1 By it many 
Catholics were tortured and imprisoned for persisting in their 
allegiance to the Pope. About two hundred priests and Jesuits 
were put to death. A number of Puritans, also, were executed for 
seditious publications, while others were imprisoned or banished. 

434. Act of Supremacy. — No sooner was the queen's acces- 
sion announced to the Pope, than he declared her illegitimate, and 
ordered her to lay aside her crown and submit herself entirely to 
his guidance. Such a demand was a signal for battle. However 
much attached the larger part of the nation, especially the country 
people, may have been to the religion of their fathers, yet they 
intended to support the queen. The temper of Parliament mani- 
fested itself in the immediate re-enactment of the Act of Suprem- 
acy. It was essentially the same, " though with its edge a little 
blunted," as that which, under Henry, had freed England from 
the dominion of Rome. 

To this act, every member of the House of Commons was 

1 High Commission Court : so called, because originally certain church dignita- 
ries were appointed commissioners to inquire into heresies and kindred matters. 



212 LEADING FACTS OF ENGLISH HISTORY. 

obliged to subscribe ; thus all Catholics were excluded from among 
them. The Lords, however, not being an elective body, were 
excused from the obligation. 

435. The Thirty-nine Articles; the Queen's Religion. — Half 

a year later the creed of the English church, which had been first 
formulated under Edward VI ., was revised and reduced to the 
Thirty-nine Articles which constitute it at the present time. But 
the real value of the religious revolution which was taking place 
did not lie in the substitution of one creed for another, but in the 
new spirit of inquiry, and the new freedom of thought which that 
change awakened. 

As for Elizabeth herself, she seems to have had no deep and 
abiding convictions on these matters. Her tendency was undoubt- 
edly towards Protestantism, but to the end of her life she remained 
Catholic in her nerves. A crucifix, with lighted candles in front 
of it, hung in her private chapel, before which she prayed to the 
Virgin as fervently as her sister Mary had ever done. 

438. The Nation halting between Two Opinions. — In this 
double course she represented the majority of the nation, which 
hesitated about committing itself fully to either side. Men were 
not wanting who were ready to lay down their lives for conscience' 
sake, but they were by no means numerous. Many sympathized 
at heart with the notorious Vicar of Bray, who kept his pulpit 
under the whole or some part of the successive reigns of Henry, 
Edward, Mary, and Elizabeth, changing his theology with each 
change of rule. When taunted as a turncoat, he replied, " Not 
so, for I have always been true to my principles, which are to live 
and die Vicar of Bray." * Though there was nothing morally 
noble in such halting between two opinions, and facing both ways, 
yet it saved England for the time from that worst of all calamities, 

1 "For this as law I will maintain 
Until my dying day, sir, 
That whatsoever king shall reign, 
I'll be Vicar of Bray, sir." 



POLITICAL REACTION. 213 

a religious civil war, such as rent France in pieces, drenched her 
fair fields with the blood of Catnolics and Protestants, split Ger- 
many and Italy into petty stages,. .and ended in Spain in tn@+numph 
of the Inquisition, and^ntellectual deatht^^^ P 

437. The Question of the Queen's Marriage. — Elizabeth 
showed the sam. tact with regard to marriage that she did with 
regard to rdjgjgap frer first Parliament, realizing that the welfare 
of the country depended largely on whom the queen should marry, 
begged her to consider the question of taking a husband. Her 
reply was that she had resolved to live and die a maiden queen. 
When further pressed, she returned answers that, like the ancient 
oracles, might be interpreted either way. The truth was, that 
Elizabeth saw the difficulty of her position better than any one 
else. The choice of her heart at that time would have been the 
Protestant Earl of Leicester, but she knew that to take him as 
consort would be to incur the enmity of the great Catholic powers 
of Europe. On the other hand, if she accepted a Catholic, she 
would inevitably alienate a large and influential number of her own 
subjects. In this dilemma she resolved to keep both sides in a 
state of hopeful expectation. Philip II. of Spain, who had married 
her sister Mary, made overtures to Elizabeth. She kept him 
waiting in uncertainty until at last his ambassador lost all patience, 
and declared that the queen was possessed with ten thousand 
devils. Later, the Duke of Anjou, a son of Henry II. of France, 
proposed. He was favorably received, but the country became so 
alarmed at the prospect of having a Catholic king, that Stubbs, a 
Puritan lawyer, published a coarse and violent pamphlet denounc- 
ing the marriage. 2 For this attack his right hand was cut off; as 
it fell, says an eye-witness, 3 he seized his hat with the other hand, 
and waved it, shouting, " God save Queen Elizabeth ! " That act 

1 Gardiner's History of England. 

2 Stubbs's pamphlet was entitled " The Discovery of the Gaping Gulf, wherein 
England is likely to be swallowed up by another French marriage, unless the Lords 
forbid the bans by letting her see the sin and punishment thereof." 

3 Camden's Annals, iq8i. 



214 LEADING FACTS OF ENGLISH HISTORY. 

was an index to the popular feeling. Men stood by the crown 
even when they condemned its policy, determined, at all hazards, 
to preserve the unity of the nation. 

438. The Queen a Coquette. — During all this time the court 
buzzed with whispered scandals. Elizabeth was by nature a con- 
firmed coquette. The Earl of Leicester, the Earl of Essex, and 
Sir Walter Raleigh were by turns her favorites. Over her relations 
with the first there hangs the terrible shadow of the murder of his 
wife, the beautiful Amy Robsart. 1 Her vanity was as insatiable as 
it was ludicrous. She issued a proclamation forbidding any one 
to sell her picture, lest it should fail to do her justice. She was 
greedy of flattery even when long past sixty, and there was a 
sting of truth in the letter which Mary Queen of Scots wrote her, 
saying, "Your aversion to marriage proceeds from your not wish- 
ing to lose the liberty of compelling people to make love to you." 

439. Violence of Temper; Crooked Policy. — In temper, Eliza- 
beth was arbitrary, fickle, and passionate. When her blood was 
up, she would swear like a trooper, spit on a courtier's new velvet 
suit,' beat her maids of honor, and box Essex's ears. She wrote 
abusive, and even profane, letters to high church dignitaries, and 
openly insulted the wife of Archbishop Parker, because she did not 
believe in a married clergy. 

The age in which Elizabeth lived was pre-eminently one of craft 
and intrigue. The kings of that day endeavored to get by fraud 
what their less polished predecessors got by force. At this game 
of double dealing Elizabeth had few equals and no superior. So 
profound was her dissimulation that her most confidential ad- 
visers never felt quite sure that she was not deceiving them. In 
her diplomatic relations she never hesitated at a lie if it would 
serve her purpose, and when the falsehood was discovered, she 
always had another and more plausible one ready to take its place. 

440. Her Knowledge of Men; the Monopolies. — The queen's 
real ability lay in her instinctive perception of the needs of the 

l See the De Quadra Letter in Froude's England. 



POLITICAL REACTION. 21 5 

age, and in her power of self-adjustment to them. Elizabeth 
never made public opinion, but watched it and followed it. She 
knew an able man at sight, and had the happy faculty of at- 
taching such men to her service. By nature she was both irreso- 
lute and impulsive; but her sense was good and her judgment 
clear. She could tell when she was well advised, and although 
she fumed and blustered, she yielded. 

It has been said that the next best thing to having a good rule 
is to know when to break it. Elizabeth always knew when to 
change her policy. No matter how obstinate she was, she saw 
the point where obstinacy became dangerous. In order to enrich 
Raleigh and her numerous other favorites, she granted them the 
exclusive right to deal in certain articles. These privileges were 
called "monopolies." They finally came to comprise almost 
everything that could be bought or sold, from French wines to 
second-hand shoes. The effect was to raise prices so as to make 
even the common necessaries of life excessively dear. A great 
outcry finally arose ; Parliament requested the queen to abolish 
the "monopolies" ; she hesitated, but when she saw their deter- 
mined attitude she gracefully granted the petition. 

441. The Adulation of the Court. — No English sovereign was 
so popular or so praised. The great writers and the great men of 
that day vied with each other in their compliments to her beauty, 
her wisdom, and her wit. J She lived in an atmosphere of splendor, 
of pleasure, and of adulation. Her reign was full of pageants, 
progresses, 1 and feasts, like those which Scott describes in his 
delightful novel, " Kenilworth." Spenser composed his poem, the 
" Faerie Queen," as he said, to extol " the glorious person of our 
sovereign queen," whom he blasphemously compared to the God- 
head. Shakespeare is reported to have written a play 2 for her 
amusement, and in his "Midsummer Night's Dream " he addresses 
her as the " fair vestal in the West." The common people were 

1 Progresses : state-journeys made with great pomp and splendor. 

2 The Merry Wives of Windsor. 



2l6 LEADING FACTS OF ENGLISH HISTORY. 

equally full of enthusiasm, and loved to sing and saout the praises 
of their " good Queen Bess." After her death at Richmond, when 
her body was being conveyed down the Thames to Westminster, 
an extravagant eulogist declared that the very fishes that followed 
the funeral barge "wept out their eyes and swam blind after !" 

442. Grandeur of the Age; More's "Utopia." — The reign of 
Elizabeth was, in fact, Europe's grandest age. It was a time when 
everything was bursting into life and color. The world had sud- 
denly grown larger ; it had opened toward the East in the revival 
of classical learning ; it had opened toward the West, and dis- 
closed a continent of unknown extent and unimaginable resources. 

Shortly after the discovery of America, Sir Thomas More 
wrote a remarkable work of fiction, in Latin, called " Utopia " 1 
(the Land of Nowhere). In it he pictured an ideal common- 
wealth, where all men were equal ; where none were poor j where 
perpetual peace prevailed ; where there was absolute freedom of 
thought; where all were contented and happy. It was, in. fact, 
the " Golden Age " come back to earth again. Such a book, now 
translated into English, suited such a time, for Elizabeth's reign 
was one of adventure, of poetry, of luxury, of rapidly increasing 
wealth. When men looked across the Atlantic, their imaginations 
were stimulated, and the most extravagant hopes did not appear 
too good to be true. Courtiers and adventurers dreamed of foun- 
tains of youth in Florida, of silver mines in Brazil, of rivers in 
Virginia whose pebbles were precious stones. 2 Thus all were 
dazzled with visions of sudden riches and renewed life. 

443. Change in Mode of Life. — England, too, was undergoing 
transformation. Once, a nobleman's residence had been simply a 

1 "Utopia" was published in Latin about 1518. It was first translated into 
English in 1551. 

2 " Why, man, all their dripping-pans [in Virginia] are pure gould ; ... all 
the prisoners they take are feterd in gold ; and for rubies and diamonds, they goe 
forth on holydayes and gather 'hem by the sea-shore, to hang on their children's 
coates." — Eastward Hoe, a play by John Marston and others, " as it was playd in 
the Black-friers [Theatre] by the Children of her Maiesties Revels." ( 1603 ?) 



POLITICAL REACTION. 21/ 

square stone fortress, built for safety only ; but now that the land 
was at peace and the old feudal barons destroyed, there was no 
need of such precaution. Men were no longer content to live 
shut up in sombre strongholds, surrounded with moats of stagnant 
water, or in wretched hovels, where the smoke curled around the 
rafters for want of chimneys by which to escape, while the wind 
whistled through the unglazed latticed windows. (Mansions and 
manor-houses like Hatfield, Knowle, and the " Bracebridge Hall " 
of Washington Irving, 1 rose instead of castles, and hospitality, not 
exclusion, became the prevailing custom.) The introduction of 
chimneys brought the cheery comfort of the English fireside, while 
among the wealthy, carpets, 2 tapestry, and silver plate took the 
place of floors strewed with rushes, of bare walls, and of tables 
covered with pewter or wooden dishes. 

An old writer, lamenting these innovations, says : " When our 
houses were built of willow, then we had oaken men ; but, now 
that our houses are made of oak, our men have not only become 
willow, but many are altogether of straw, which is a sore affliction." 

444. An Age of Adventure and of Daring. — But they were 
not all of straw, for that was a period of daring enterprise. 
Sir Walter Raleigh planted the first English colony, which the 
maiden queen named Virginia, in honor of herself. It proved 
unsuccessful, but he said, " I shall live to see it an English nation 
yet " ; and he did. Frobisher explored the coasts of Labrador 
and Greenland. Sir Francis Drake sailed into the Pacific, spent a 
winter in or near the harbor of San Francisco, and ended his 
voyage by circumnavigating the globe. 3 In the East, London mer- 
chants had founded the East India Company, the beginning of 
English dominion in Asia; while in Holland, Sir Philip Sydney 
gave his life-blood for the cause of Protestantism. 

1 Aston Hall, in the vicinity of Birmingham, is the original of Irving's " Brace- 
bridge Hall. ' 

2 Used at first as table covers chiefly. 
8 See Map No. 12, page 218. 



2l8 LEADING FACTS OF ENGLISH HISTORY. 

445. Literature. — It was an age, too, not only of brave deeds 
but of high thoughts. Spenser, Shakespeare, and Jonson were 
making Englirh literature the noblest of all literatures. Francis 
Bacon, son of Sir Nicholas Bacon, of Elizabeth's council, was 
giving a wholly different direction to education, by teaching men 
in his new philosophy, that in order to use the forces of nature 
they must learn by observation and experiment to know nature her- 
self; "for," said he, "knowledge is power." 

446. Mary Queen of Scots claims the Crown. — For England 
it was also an age of great and constant peril. Elizabeth's entire 
reign was undermined with plots against her life and against the 
life of the Protestant faith. No sooner was one corspiracy de- 
tected and suppressed, than a new one sprang up. Perhaps the 
most formidable of these was the effort which Mary Stuart (Queen 
of Scots) made to supplant her English rival. Shortly after Eliza- 
beth's accession, Mary's husband, the king of France, died. She 
returned to Scotland and there assumed the Scottish crown, at the 
same time asserting her right to the English throne. 1 

447. Mary marries Darnley ; his Murder. — A few years later 
she married Lord Darnley, who became jealous of Mary's Italian 
private secretary, Rizzio, and, with the aid of accomplices, seized 
him in her presence, dragged him into an ante-chamber, and there 
stabbed him. 

The next year Darnley was murdered. It was believed that 
Mary and the Earl of Bothwell, whom she soon after married, were 
guilty of the crime. The people rose and cast her into prison, 
and forced her to abdicate in favor of her infant son, James VI. 

448. Mary escapes to England; Plots against Elizabeth and 
Protestantism. — Mary escaped and fled to England. Elizabeth, 
fearing she might pass over to France and stir up war, confined 

l See Table, Paragraph No. 421. Mary's claim was based on the fact that the 
Pope had never recognized Henry VIII.'s marriage to Anne Boleyn, Elizabeth's 
mother, as lawful. 



No. 12. 



TJ- 



„r>- : v\'f\ Q%: % 



4 \/<-" - 



£■'' 




To face page 218. 



Showing the English discoveries in America in the 15th, 16th and 17th centuries, 
with a part of Drake's voyage round the globe in 1577-1579. 



POLITICAL REACTION. 2ig 

her in Bolton Castle. 1 During her imprisonment there and else- 
where she became implicated in a plot for assassinating the Eng- 
lish queen, and seizing the reins of government in behalf of herself 
and the Jesuits. 

It was a time when the Protestant faith seemed everywhere 
marked for destruction. In France, evil counsellors had induced 
the king, to order a massacre of the Reformers, and on St. Bar- 
tholomew's Day thousands were slain. The Pope, misinformed in 
the matter, ordered a solemn thanksgiving for the slaughter, and 
struck a gold medal to commemorate it.* Philip of Spain, whose 
cold, impassive face scarcely ever relaxed into a smile, now laughed 
outright. Still more recently, William the Silent, who had driven 
out the Catholics from a part of the Netherlands, 2 had been assas- 
sinated by a Jesuit fanatic. 

449. Elizabeth beheads Mary. — Under these circumstances, 
Elizabeth, aroused to a sense of her danger, reluctantly signed the 
Scottish queeivs death warrant, and Mary, after nineteen years' 
imprisonment, was beheaded at Fotheringay Castle. 3 

As soon as the news of her execution was brought to the queen, 
she became alarmed at the political consequences the act might 
have in Europe. With her usual duplicity she bitterly upbraided 
the minister who had advised it, and throwing Davidson, her sec- 
retary, into the Tower, fined him ^10,000, the payment of which 
reduced him to beggary. 4 Not satisfied with this, Elizabeth even 
had the effrontery to write a letter of condolence to Mary's son 
(James VI.) declaring that his mother had been beheaded by 
mistake ! Yet facts prove that not only had Elizabeth determined 
to put Mary to death, — a measure whose justice is still vehe- 
mently disputed, — but she had suggested to her keeper that it 
might be expedient to have her privately murdered. 

1 Bolton Castle, Yorkshire. 

2 Netherlands, or Low Countries : now represented in great part by Belgium 
and Holland. * See The Leading Facts of French History. 

3 Fotheringav Castle. Northamptonshire, demolished by James I. 
* j^io.ooo : a sum probably equal to more than $300,000 now. 



220 LEADING FACTS OF ENGLISH HISTORY. 

450. The Spanish Armada. — Mary was hardly under ground 
when a new and greater danger threatened the country. At her 
death, the Scottish queen, disgusted with her mean-spirited son 
James, 1 left her claim to the English throne to Philip II. of Spain, 
who was then the most powerful sovereign in Europe, ruling over 
a territory equal to that of the Roman Empire in its greatest ex- 
tent. Philip resolved to invade England, conquer it, annex it to 
his own possessions, and restore the religion of Rome. To accom- 
plish this, he began fitting out the "Invincible Armada," 2 an 
immense fleet, intended to carry 20,000 soldiers, and to receive on 
its way re-enforcements of 30,000 more from the Spanish army in 

. the Netherlands. 

451. Drake's Expedition ; Sailing of the Armada ; Elizabeth 
at T Jbury. — Sir Francis Drake determined to put a check to 
Philip's preparations. He heard that the enemy's fleet was gath- 
ered at Cadiz. He sailed there, and in spite of all opposition 
effectually " singed the Spanish king's beard," as he said, by burn- 
ing and otherwise destroying more than a hundred ships. This so 
crippled the expedition that it had to be given up for that year, 
but the next summer a vast armament set sail. It consisted of six 
squadrons carrying 2500 cannon, and having on board, it is said, 
shackles and instruments of torture to bind and punish the English 
heretics. 

The impending peril thoroughly aroused England. All parties, 
both Catholics and Protestants, rose and joined in the defence of 
their country and their queen. An army of 16,000 men under the 
Earl of Leicester gathered at Tilbury, 3 on the Thames, to protect 
London. Elizabeth reviewed the troops, saying with true Tudor 
spirit, " Though I have but the feeble body of a woman, I have 
the heart of a king, and of a king of England, too." 

1 James had deserted his mother, and accepted a pension from Elizabeth. 

2 Armada : an armed fleet. 

3 Tilbury : a fort on the left bank of the Thames, about twenty miles below Lon- 
don. Some authorities make this review at Tilbury subsequent to the defeat of the 
Armada. 



POLITICAL REACTION. 221 

452. The Battle. — The English sea-forces under Howard, a 
Catholic, as admiral, and Drake, second in command, were assem- 
bled at Plymouth, watching for the enemy. When the long- looked* 
for fleet came in sight, beacon fires were lighted on the hills to 
give the alarm. 

"For swift to east and swift to west the warning radiance spread; 
High on St. Michael's mount jt shone, it shone on Beachy Head. 
Far o'er the deep the Spaniard sees along each southern shire, 
Cape beyond cape in endless range those twinkling points of fire." l 

The enemy's ships moved steadily towards the coast in the form 
of a crescent seven miles in length ; but Howard and Drake were 
ready to receive them. With their fast-sailing cruisers they sailed 
around the unwieldy Spanish war-ships, firing four shots to their 
one, and "harassing them as a swarm of wasps would a bear." 
Several of the enemy's vessels were captured, and one blown up. 
At last the commander thought best to make for Calais to repair 
damages and take a fresh start. The English followed. As soon 
as night came on, Drake sent eight blazing fire-ships to drift down 
among the Armada as it lay at anchor. Thoroughly alarmed at 
the prospect of being burned where they lay, the Spaniards cut 
their cables and made sail for the north. 

453. Pursuit and Destruction of the Armada. — They were 
hotly pursued by the English, who, having lost but a single vessel 
in the fight, might have cut them to pieces, had not the queen's 
suicidal economy stinted them both in powder and provisions. 2 
Meanwhile the Spanish forces kept on. The wind increased to a 
gale, the gale to a furious storm. As in such weather the Armada 
could not turn back, the commander attempted to go around 
Scotland and return home that way; but ship after ship was 
driven ashore and wrecked on the wild and rocky coast. On one 
strand, less than five miles long, over a thousand corpses were 

1 Macaulay, The Armada. 

2 The English crews suffered so much for want of food through Elizabeth's parsi- 
mony, that thousands of them came home from the great victory only to die. 



222 LEADING FACTS OF ENGLISH HISTORY. 

counted. Those who escaped the waves met death by the hands 
of the inhabitants. Eventually, only about a third of the fleet, half 
manned by crews stricken by pestilence and death, succeeded in 
reaching Spain. Thus ended Philip's boasted attack on England. 
When all was over, Elizabeth went in state to St. Paul's to offer 
thanks for the victory. It was afterward commemorated by a 
medal which the queen caused to be struck, bearing this inscrip- 
tion : " God blew with his winds, and they were scattered." 

454. Insurrection in Ireland. — A few years later, a terrible 
rebellion broke out in Ireland. From its partial conquest in the 
time of Henry II., the condition of that island continued to be 
deplorable. First, the chiefs of the native tribes fought con- 
stantly among themselves ; next, the English attempted to force 
the Protestant religion upon a people who detested it ; lastly, the 
greed and misgovernment of the rulers put a climax to these mis- 
eries, so that the country became, as Raleigh said, " a common- 
wealth of common woe." Under Elizabeth a war of extermination 
began, so merciless that the queen herself declared that if the work 
of destruction went on much longer, " she should have nothing left 
but ashes and corpses to rule over." Then, but not till then, the 
starving remnant of the people submitted, and England gained a 
barren victory which has ever since carried with it its own curse. 

455. The First Poor Law. — In 1601 the first effective English 
poor law was passed. It required each parish to make provision 
for such paupers as were unable to work, while the able-bodied 
were compelled to labor for their own support. This measure re- 
lieved much of the distress which had prevailed during the two 
previous reigns, and forms the basis of the law in force at the 
present time. 

456. Elizabeth's Death. — The death of the great queen, in 
1603, was as sad as her life had been brilliant. Her favorite, 
Essex, Shakespeare's intimate friend, had been beheaded for an 
attempted rebellion against her power. From that time she grew, 
as she said, " heavy-hearted." Her old friends and counsellors 



POLITICAL REACTION. 223 

were dead, her people no longer welcomed her with their former 
enthusiasm ; treason had grown so common that Hentzner, a 
German traveller in England, said that he counted three hundred 
heads of persons, who had suffered death for this crime, exposed 
on London Bridge. Elizabeth felt that her sun was nearly set; 
gradually her strength declined ; she ceased to leave ner palace, 
and sat muttering to herself all day long, " Mortua, sed non sepulta ! " 
" Dead, but not buried ! " At length she lay propped up on cush- 
ions on the floor, 1 " tired," as she said, " of reigning, and tired of 
life." In that sullen mood she departed to join that silent majority 
whose realm under earth is bounded by the sides of the grave. 
" Four days afterward," says a writer of that time, " she was for- 
gotten." One may see her tomb, with her full-length, recumbent 
effigy, in the north aisle of Henry VII. 's Chapel, and in the oppo- 
site aisle the tomb and effigy of her old rival and enemy, Mary 
Queen of Scots. The sculptured features of both look placid. 
" After life's fitful fever they sleep well." 

457. Summary. — The Elizabethan period was in Wery respect 
remarkable. It was great in its men of thought, and equally great 
in its men of action. It was greatest, however, in its successful 
resistance to the armed hand of religious oppression. The defeat 
of the Armada gave renewed courage to the cause of the Reforma- 
tion, not only in England, but in every Protestant country in 
Europe. It meant that a movement had begun which, though it 
might be temporarily hindered, would at last secure to all civi- 
lized countries the right of private judgment and of liberty of 
conscience. 



1 See Delaroche's fine picture, " The Death of Queen Elizabeth. 1 



224 ^LEADING FACTS OF ENGLISH HISTORY. 

GENERAL VIEW OF THE TUDOR PERIOD. — 1485-1603. 

1, GOVERNMENT. — II. RELIGION. — III. MILITARY AFFAIRS. — IV. 
LITERATURE, LEARNING, AND ART. — V. GENERAL INDUSTRY AND 
COMMERCE. — VI. MODE OF LIFE, MANNERS, AND CUSTOMS. 

GOVERNMENT. 

458. Absolutism of the Crown ; Free Trade ; the Post-Office. 

— During a great part of the Tudor period the power of the crown was 
well-nigh absolute. Four causes contributed to this : I . The destruc- 
tion of a very large part of the feudal nobility by the Wars of the 
Roses -, 1 2. The removal of many of the higher clergy from the House 
of Lords ; 2 3. The creation of a new nobility dependent on the king ; 
4. The desire of the great body of the people for " peace at any price." 

Under Henry VII. and Elizabeth the courts of Star-Chamber and 
High Commission exercised arbitrary power, and often inflicted cruel 
punishments for offences against the government, and for heresy or the 
denial of the religious supremacy of the sovereign. 

Henry VII. established a treaty of free trade, called the "Great Inter- 
course," between England and the Netherlands. Under Elizabeth the 
first postmaster-general entered upon his duties, though the post-office 
was no« fully established until the reign of her successor. 

RELIGION. 

459 Establishment of the Protestant Church of England. — 

Henry VIII. suppressed the Roman Catholic monasteries, seized their 
property, and ended by declaring the Church of England independent 

1 In the last Parliament before the Wars of the Roses (1454) there were 53 
temporal peers ; at the beginning of the reign of Henry VII. (1485; there were 
only 29. 

2 Out of a total of barely 90 peers, Henry VIII., by the suppression of the 
monasteries, removed upwards of 36 abbots and priors. He, however, added five 
new bishops, which made the House of Lords number about 59. 



POLITICAL REACTION. 225 

of the Pope. Thenceforth, he assumed the title of Head of the National 
Church. Under Edward VI. Protestantism was established by law. 
Mary led a reaction in favor of Romanism, but her successor, Elizabeth, 
reinstated the Protestant form of worship. Under Elizabeth the Puri- 
tans demanded that the national church be purified from all Romish 
* forms and doctrines. Severe laws were passed under Elizabeth for the 
punishment of both Catholics and Puritans, all persons being required 
to conform to the Church of England. 

MILITARY AFFAIRS. 

460. Arms and Armor; the Navy. — Though gunpowder had 
been in use for two centuries, yet full suits of armor were still worn 
during a great part of the period. An improved match-lock gun, with 
the pistol, an Italian invention, and heavy cannon were introduced. 
Until the death of Henry VIII. foot-soldiers continued to be armed 
with the long-bow; but under Edward VI. that weapon was super- 
seded by firearms. The principal wars of the period were with Scot- 
land, France, and Spain, the last being by far the most important, and 
ending with the .destruction of the Armada. 

Henry VIII. established a permanent navy, and built several vessels 
of upwards of iooo tons register. The largest men of war under Eliza- 
beth carried forty cannon and a crew of several hundred men. 

LITERATURE, LEARNING, AND ART. 

461. Schools. — The revival of learning gave a great impetus to 
education. The money which had once been given to monasteries was 
now spent in building schools, colleges, and hospitals. Dean Colet 
established the free grammar school of St. Paul's, several colleges were 
endowed at Oxford and Cambridge, and Edward VI. opened upwards 
of forty free schools in different parts of the country, of which the Blue- 
Coat School, London, is one of the best known. Improved text-books 
were prepared for the schools, and Lilye's Latin Grammar, first pub- 
lished in 15 13 for the use of Dean Colet's school, continued a standard 
work for over three hundred years. 

462. Literature ; the Theatre. — The latter part of the period 
deserves the name of the " Golden Age of English Literature." More, 



226 LEADING FACTS OF ENGLISH HISTORY. 

Sydney, Hooker, Jewell, were the leading prose writers ; while Spenser, 
Marlowe, Jonson, and Shakespeare represented the poets. 

In 1574 a public theatre was erected in London, in which Shakespeare 
was a stockholder. Not very long after a second was opened. At both 
these (the Globe and the Blackfriars) the great dramatist appeared in 
his own plays, and in such pieces as King John, Richard the Third, and 
the Henrys, he taught his countrymen more of the true spirit and mean- 
ing of the nation's history than they had ever learned before. His his- 
torical plays are chiefly based on Holinshed and Hall, two chroniclers 
of the period. 

463. Progress of Science ; Superstitions. — The discoveries 
of Columbus, Cabot, Magellan, and other navigators had proved the 
earth to be a globe. Copernicus, a Prussian astronomer, now demon- 
strated the fact that it both turns on its axis and revolves around the 
sun, but the discovery was not accepted until many years la L er. 

On the other hand, astrology, witchcraft, and the transmutation ot 
copper and lead into gold were generally believed in. In preaching 
before Queen Elizabeth, Bishop Jewell urged that stringent measures 
be taken with witches and sorcerers, saying that through their demoni- 
acal acts "your grace's subjects pine away even unto death, their color 
fadeth, their flesh rotteth." Lord Bacon and other eminent^ men held 
the same belief, and many persons eventually suffered death for the 
practice of witchcraft. 

464. Architecture. — The Gothic, or Pointed, style of architecture 
reached its final stage (the Perpendicular J in the early part of this period. 
The first examples of it have already been mentioned at the close of the 
preceding period. See Paragraph No. 376. After the close of Henry 
VI I. 's reign no attempts were made to build any grand church edifices 
until St. Paul's Cathedral was rebuilt by Wren, in the seventeenth cen- 
tury, in the Italian, or classical style. 

In the latter part of the Tudor period many stately country houses 1 
and grand city mansions were built, ornamented with carved woodwork 
and bay-windows. Castles were no longer constructed, and, as the 
country was at peace, many of those which had been built were aban- 
doned, though a few castellated mansions like Thornbury Gloucester- 

1 Such as Hatfield House, Knowle and Hardwick Hall; and, in London, 
mansions similar to Crosbv Hall. 



POLITICAL REACTION. 227 

shire were built in Henry VIII. 's time. The streets of London still 
continued to be very narrow, and the tall houses, with projecting stories, 
were so near together at the top that neighbors living on opposite sides 
of the street might almost shake hands from the upper windows. 



GENERAL INDUSTRY AND COMMERCE. 

465. Foreign Trade. — The geographical discoveries of this period 
gave a great impulse to foreign trade with Africa, Brazil, and North 
America. The wool trade continued to increase, and also commerce 
with the East Indies. In 1600 the East India Company was established, 
thus laying the foundation of England's Indian empire, and ships now 
brought cargoes direct to England by way of the Cape of Good Hope. 
Sir Francis Drake did a flourishing business in plundering Spanish set- 
tlements in America and Spanish treasure-ships, and Sir John Hawkins 
became wealthy through the slave trade, — kidnapping negroes on the 
coast of Guinea, and selling them to the Spanish West India colonies. 
The domestic trade of England was still carried on largely by great 
annual fairs. Trade, however, was much deranged by the quantities of 
debased money issued under Henry VIII. and Edward VI. 

Elizabeth reformed the currency, and ordered the mint to send out 
coin which no longer had a lie stamped on its face, thereby setting an 
example to all future governments, whether monarchical or republican. 



MODE OF LIFE, MANNERS, AND CUSTOMS. 

466. Life in the Country and the City. — In the cities, this was 
an age of luxury ; but on the farms, the laborer was glad to get a bundle 
of straw for a bed, and a wooden trencher to eat from. Vegetables 
were scarcely known, and fresh meat was eaten only by the well-to-do. 
The cottages were built of sticks and mud, without chimneys, and were 
nearly as bare of furniture as the wigwam of an American Indian. 

The rich kept several mansions and country houses, but paid little 
attention to cleanliness ; and when the filth and vermin in one became 
unendurable, they left it " to sweeten," as they said, and went to an- 
other of their estates. The dress of the nobles continued to be of 
the most costly materials and the gayest colors. 

At table, a great variety of dishes were served on silver plate, but 



228 LEADING FACTS OF ENGLISH HISTORY. 

fingers were still used in place of forks. Tea and coffee were unknown, 
and beer was the usual drink at breakfast and supper. 

Carriages were not in use, except by Queen Elizabeth, and all jour- 
neys were performed on horseback. Merchandise was also generally 
transported on pack-horses, the roads rarely being good enough for the 
passage of wagons. The principal amusements were the theatre, dan- 
cing, masquerading, bull and bear baiting (worrying a bull or bear 
with dogs), cock-fighting, and gambling. 



DIVINE RIGHT OF KINGS AND PEOPLE. 229 



IX. 



a It is the nature of the devil of tyranny to tear and rend the body which 
he leaves." — Macaulay. 



BEGINNING WITH THE DIVINE RIGHT OF KINGS, AND 
ENDING WITH THE DIVINE RIGHT OF THE PEOPLE. 

KING or PARLIAMENT? 

House of Stuart. — 1603-1649, 1660-1714. 

James I., 1603-1625. Charles II., 1660-1685. 

Charles I., 1625-1649. James II., 1685-1688. 

The Commonwealth and William &. Mary, 1 1689-1702. 

Protectorate, 1649-1660. Anne, 1702-1714. 

467. Accession of James I. — Elizabeth was the last of the 
Tudor family. By birth, James Stuart, only son of Mary Stuart, 
Queen of Scots, and great grandson of Margaret, sister of Henry 
VIII., was the nearest heir to the crown. 2 He was already king 
of Scotland under the title of James VI. He now, by choice of 
Parliament, became James I. of England. By his accession the 
two countries were united under one sovereign, but each retained 
its own Parliament, its own church, and its own laws. 3 The new 
monarch found himself ruler over three kingdoms, each professing 
a different religion. Puritanism prevailed in Scotland, Catholicism 
in Ireland, Anglicanism or Episcopacy in England. 

1 Orange-Stuart. 

2 See Table, Paragraph No. 421. 

8 On his coins and in his proclamations, James styled himself King of Great 
Britain, France, and Ireland. But the term Great Britain did not properly come 
into use until somewhat more than a hundred years later, when, by an act of Par- 
liament under Anne, Scotland and England were legally united. 



2?,0 LEADING FACTS OF ENGLISH HISTORY. 

468. The King's Appearance and Character. — James was 
unfortunate in his birth. Neither his father, Lord Darnley, nor 
his mother had high qualities of character. The murder of Mary's 
Italian secretary in her own palace, and almost in her own pres- 
ence, 1 gave the queen a shock which left a fatal inheritance of 
cowardice to her son. Throughout his life he could not endure 
the sight of a drawn sword. His personal appearance was by no 
means impressive. He had a feeble, rickety body, he could not 
walk straight, his tongue was too large for his mouth, and he had 
goggle eyes. Through fear of assassination he habitually wore 
thickly padded and quilted clothes, usually green in color. He was 
a man of considerable shrewdness, but of small mind, and of un- 
bounded conceit. His Scotch tutor had crammed him with much 
ill-digested learning, so that he gave the impression of a man edu- 
cated beyond his intellect. He wrote on witchcraft, kingcraft, 
and theology. He also wrote numerous commonplace verses, 
together with a sweeping denunciation of the new plant called 
tobacco, which Raleigh had brought from America, the smoke of 
which now began to perfume, or, according to James, to poison 
the air of England. He had all the superstitions of the age, and 
one of his earliest acts was the passage of a statute punishing 
witchcraft with death. Under that law many a wretched woman 
perished on the scaffold, whose only crime was that she was old, 
ugly, and friendless. 

469. The Great Petition. — During the latter part of Elizabeth's 
reign, the Puritans in England had increased so rapidly that Arch- 
bishop Whitgift told James he was amazed to find how " the 
vipers " had multiplied. The Puritans felt that the Reformation 
had not been sufficiently thorough. They complained that many 
of the forms and ceremonies of the Church of England were by 
no means in harmony with the Scriptures. Many of them wished 
also to change the form of church government, and instead of 
having bishops appointed by the king, to adopt the more derno- 

1 See Paragraph No. 447. 



DIVINE RIGHT OF KINGS AND PEOPLE. 23 1 

cratic method of having presbyters or elders chosen by the con- 
gregation. 

While James was on the way from Scotland to London to re- 
ceive the crown, the Puritans presented a petition to him, signed 
by upwards of a thousand of their ministers, asking that they might 
be permitted to preach without wearing the white gown called a 
surplice, to baptize without making the sign of the cross on the 
child's forehead, and to perform the marriage ceremony without 
using the ring. 

470. Hampton Court Conference. — The king convened a 
conference at Hampton Court, near London, to consider the 
petition, or rather to make a pedantic display of his own learning. 
The probability that he would grant the petitioners' request was 
small ; for James had come to England disgusted with the violence 
of the Scotch Puritans, especially since one of their ministers in 
Edinburgh had seized his sleeve at a public meeting, and addressed 
him with a somewhat brutal excess of truth, as " God's silly 
vassal." But the new sovereign had a still deeper reason for his 
antipathy to the Puritans. He saw that their doctrine of equality 
in the church naturally led to that of equality in the state. If 
they objected to Episcopal government in the one, might they not 
presently object to royal government in the other? Hence, to all 
their arguments, he answered with his favorite maxim, " No 
bishop, no king," meaning that the two must stand or fall to- 
gether. At the Hampton Court Conference no real freedom of 
discussion was allowed. The only good result was that the king 
ordered a new and revised translation of the Bible to be made. 
It was published in 161 1, and so well was the work done that it 
still remains the version used in nearly every Protestant church 
and Protestant home where the English language is spoken. 
James, however, regarded the conference as a success. He had 
refuted the Puritans, as he believed, with much Latin and some 
Greek. He ended by declaiming against them with such unction 
that one enthusiastic bishop declared that his majesty must be 



232 LEADING FACTS OF ENGLISH HISTORY. 

specially inspired by the Holy Ghost ! He closed the meeting 
by imprisoning the ten persons who had presented the petition, 
on the ground that it tended to sedition and rebellion. Hence- 
forth, the king's attitude toward the Puritans was unmistakable. 
" I will make them conform," said he, " or I will harry them out 
of the land." 

471. The Divine Right of Kings. — As if with the desire of 
further alienating his people, James now constantly proclaimed the 
doctrine of the Divine Right of Kings. This theory, which was un- 
known to the English constitution, declared that the king derived his 
power and right to rule directly from God, and in no way from the 
people. 1 " As it is atheism and blasphemy," he said, " to dispute 
what God can do, so it is presumption and a high contempt in a 
subject to dispute what the king can do." All this would have 
been amusing had it not been dangerous. James forgot that he 
owed his throne to that act of parliament which accepted him 
as Elizabeth's successor. In his exalted position as head of the 
nation, he boasted of his power much like the dwarf in the story, 
who, perched on the giant's shoulders, cries out, " See how big 
lam!" 

Acting on this assumption, James violated the privileges of the 
House of Commons, rejected members who had been legally 
elected, and imprisoned those who dared to criticise his course. 
The contest was kept up with bitterness during the whole reign. 
Towards its close, the House again protested vigorously, and the 
king seized their official journal, and with his own hands tore out 
the record of the protest. 

472. The Gunpowder Plot. — This arbitrary spirit so angered 
the Commons, many of whom were Puritans, that they, believing 
that the king secretly favored the Roman Catholics, increased the 
stringency of the laws against persons of that religion. The king, 
to vindicate himself from this suspicion, proceeded to execute the 

l James's favorite saying was, " a Deo rex, a r ege lex " (God makes the king, 
the king makes the law). 



DIVINE RIGHT- OF KINGS AND PEOPLE. 233 

new statutes with rigor. As a rule, the Catholics were loyal sub- 
jects. When Spain threatened to invade the country, they fought 
as valiantly in its defence as the Protestants themselves. Many of 
them were now ruined by enormous fines, while the priests were 
driven from the realm. One of the sufferers by these unjust 
measures was Robert Catesby, a Catholic gentleman of good posi- 
tion. He, with the aid of a Yorkshire man, named Guy Fawkes, 
and about a dozen more, formed a plot to blow up the Parliament 
House, on the day the king was to open the session (Nov. 5, 
1605). Their intention, after they had thus summarily disposed 
of the government, was to induce the Catholics to rise and pro- 
claim a new sovereign. The plot was discovered, the conspirators 
executed, and the Catholics were treated with greater severity 
than ever. 

473. American Colonies, Virginia. — In 1607 a London 
joint-stock company of merchants and adventurers, or speculators, 
established the first permanent English colony in America, on 
the coast of Virginia, at a place which they called Jamestown, in 
honor of the king. 1 The colony was wholly under the control of 
the crown. The religion was to be that of the Church of England. 
Most of those who went out were " gentlemen,'' that is, persons 
not brought up to manual labor, and had it not been for the 
energy and determined courage of Capt. John Smith, who was 
the real soul of the enterprise, it would have proved like Raleigh's 
undertaking, a miserable failure ; in time, however, the new colony 
gained strength. Negro slavery, which in those days touched no 
man's conscience, was introduced, and by its means great quan- 
tities of tobacco were raised for export. The settlement grew in 
population and wealth, and in less than a dozen years it had 
secured the privilege of making its own laws, thus becoming 
practically a self-governing community. 

474. The Pilgrims. — The year after this great enterprise was 
undertaken, another band of emigrants went out from England, 

1 See Map No. 12, page 218. 



234 LEADING FACTS OF ENGLISH HISTORY. 

not West, but East ; not to seek prosperity, but greater religious 
freedom. James's declaration that he would make all men conform 
to the established church, or drive them out of the land, was 
having its due effect. 

Those who continued to refuse were fined, cast into noisome 
prisons, beaten, and often half-starved, so that the old and feeble 
soon died. Strange to say, this kind of treatment did not win 
over the Puritans to the side of the bishops and the king. On 
the contrary, it set many of them to thinking more seriously than 
ever of the true relations of the government to religion. The 
result was that not a few came to the conclusion that each body 
of Christians had a right to form a religious society of its own 
wholly independent of the state. Those of the Puritans who thus 
thought got the name of Independents or Separatists, because 
they were determined to separate from the national church and 
conduct their worship and govern their religious societies as they 
deemed best. 

In the little village of Scrooby, Nottinghamshire, Postmaster 
William Brewster, William Bradford, John Carver, and some others, 
mostly farmers and poor men of the neighborhood, had organized 
such an independent church with John Robinson for its minister. 
After a time they became convinced that so long as they remained 
in England they would never be safe from persecution. They 
therefore resolved to leave their native country, and as they could 
not get a royal license to go to America, to emigrate to Holland, 
where all men were, at that time, free to establish societies for the 
worship of God in their own manner. With much difficulty and 
danger they managed to escape there. After remaining there 
upwards of twelve years, a part of them succeeded in obtaining 
from King James, after long negotiation, the privilege of emigrat- 
ing to America. 1 A London trading company, which was sending 
out an expedition for fish and furs, agreed to furnish the Pilgrims 
passage by the Mayflower, though on terms so hard that the poor 

1 See " Why did the Pilgrim Fathers come to New England ?* By Edwin D. 
Mead, in the New Englander, 1882, 



DIVINE RIGHT OF KINGS AND PEOPLE. 235 

exiles said the " conditions were fitter for thieves and bondslaves 
than honest men." 

In 1620 these Pilgrims, or wanderers, set forth for that New 
World beyond the sea, which they hoped would redress the wrongs 
of the Old. Landing at Plymouth, in Massachusetts, they estab- 
lished a colony on the basis of " equal laws for the general good." 
Ten years later John Winthrop, a Puritan gentleman of wealth from 
Groton, Suffolk, followed with a small company and settled Salem 
and Boston. During the next decade no less than twenty thou- 
sand Englishmen found a home in the west, but to the little band 
that embarked under Bradford and Brewster in the Mayflower, 
the scene of whose landing at Plymouth is painted on the walls of 
the Houses of Parliament, belongs the credit of the great under- 
taking. Of that enterprise one of their brethren in England wrote 
in the time of their severest distress, with prophetic foresight, " Let 
it not be grievous to you that you have been instruments to break 
the ice for others ; the honor shall be yours to the world's end." 
From this time forward the country was settled mainly by English 
emigrants, and in the course of the next century, or a little more, 
the total number of colonies had reached thirteen, though part of 
them had been gained by conquest. Thus the nation of Great 
Britain was beginning to expand into that greater Britain which 
it had discovered and planted beyond the sea. 

475. The Colonization of Ireland. — While these events were 
going on in America, James was himself planning a very different 
kind of colony in the northeast of Ireland. The greater part of 
the province of Ulster, which had been the scene of the rebel- 
lion under Elizabeth, had been seized by the crown. The king 
now granted these lands to settlers from Scotland and England. 
The city of London founded a colony which they called London- 
derry, and by this means Protestantism was firmly and finally estab- 
lished in the north of the island. 

476. The New Stand taken by the House of Commons. — The 
House of Commons at this period began to slowly get back, with 



236 LEADING FACTS OF ENGLISH HISTORY. 

interest, the power it had lost under the Tudors. James suffered 
from a chronic lack of money. He was obliged to apply to Par- 
liament to supply his wants, but Parliament was determined to 
grant nothing without reforms. They laid it down as a principle, 
to which they firmly adhered, that the king should not have the 
nation's coin unless he would promise to right the nation's wrongs. 
In order to get means to support his army in Ireland, James 
created a new title of rank, that of baronet, 1 which he granted to 
any one who would pay liberally for it. As a last resort to get 
funds he compelled all persons having an income of forty pounds 2 
or more a year derived from landed property, to accept knight- 
hood (thus incurring feudal obligations and payments) or purchase 
exemption by a heavy fine. 

477. Impeachment of Lord Bacon. — In 162 1 Lord Bacon was 
impeached by the House of Commons, and convicted by the 
House of Lords, for having taken bribes in lawsuits tried before 
him as judge. He confessed the crime, but pleaded extenuating 
circumstances, adding, " I beseech your worships to be merciful to 
a broken reed " ; but Bacon had been in every respect a servile 
tool of James, and no mercy was granted. Parliament imposed a 
fine of ^"40,000, with imprisonment. Had it been fully executed, 
it would have caused his utter ruin. The king, however, inter- 
posed, and his favorite escaped with a few days' confinement in 
the Tower. 

478. Execution of Raleigh. — With Sir Walter Raleigh the 
result was different. He had been a prisoner in the Tower for 

1 Baronet: this title does not confer the right to a seat in the House of Lords, 
A baronet is designated as Sir, e.g., Sir John Franklin. 

2 This exaction was ridiculed by the wits of the time in these lines : — 

He that hath forty pounds per annum 

Shall be promoted from the plough; 

His wife shall take the wall of her grannum* — 

Honor's sold so dog-cheap now." 

The distraint of knighthood, as it was called, began at least as far back as Edward 
I., 1278. 

* Take precedence of her grandmother. 



DIVINE RIGHT OF KINGS AND PEOPLE. 237 

a number of years, on an unfounded charge of conspiracy. Influ- 
enced by motives of cupidity, James released him to go on an 
expedition in search of gold to replenish the royal coffers. Raleigh, 
contrary to the king's orders, came into collision with the Span- 
iards on the coast of South America. 1 He failed in his enterprise, 
and brought back nothing. Raleigh was especially hated by Spain, 
not only on account of the part he had taken in the defeat of the 
Armada, but also for his subsequent attacks on Spanish treasure- 
ships and property. The king of that country now demanded 
vengeance, and James, in order to get a pretext for his execution, 
revived the sentence which had been passed on Raleigh fifteen 
years before. His real motive undoubtedly was the hope that, by 
sacrificing Raleigh, he might secure the hand of the daughter of 
the king of Spain for his son, Prince Charles. Raleigh died as 
More did, his last words a jest at death. His deeper feelings 
found expression in the lines which he wrote on the fly-leaf of his 
Bible the night before his judicial murder : — 

" Even such is Time, that takes on trust, 

Our youth, our joys, our all we have, 
And pays us but with age and dust; 

Who in the dark and silent grave, 
When we have wandered all our ways, 
Shuts up the story of our days; 
But from this earth, this grave, this dust, 
My God shall raise me up, I trust.'* 

479. Death of James. — As for James, when he died a few 
years later, a victim of confirmed drunkenness and gluttony, his 
fittest epitaph would have been what an eminent French statesman 
of that time called him, " the wisest fool in Christendom." 2 

480. Summary. — Three chief events demand our attention in 
this reign. First, the increased power and determined attitude of 
the House of Commons. Second, the growth of the Puritan and 

1 It is said that James had treacherously informed the Spanish ambassador of 
Raleigh's voyage, so that the collision was inevitable. 
3 The Due de Sully. 



238 LEADING FACTS OF ENGLISH HISTORY. 

Independent parties in religion. Third, the establishment of per- 
manent, self-governing colonies in Virginia and New England, 
destined in time to unite with others and become a new and 
independent English nation. 



CHARLES I.— 1625-1649. 

481. Accession of Charles; Result of the Doctrine of the 
Divine Right of Kings. — The doctrine of the Divine Right of 
Kings, so zealously put forth by James, bore its full and fatal fruit 
in the career of his son. Unlike his father, Charles was by nature 
a gentleman. In his private and personal relations he was con- 
scientious and irreproachable ; in public matters he was exactly 
the reverse. This singular contrast — this double character, as it 
were — arose from the fact that as a man, Charles felt himself 
bound by truth and honor, but as a sovereign, he considered him- 
self superior to such obligations. In all his dealings with the 
nation he seems to have acted on the principle that the people 
had no rights which kings were bound to respect. 

482. Two Mistakes at the Outset. — He began his reign with 
two mistakes. First, he insisted on retaining the Duke of Buck- 
ingham, his father's favorite, as his chief adviser, though the Duke 
was, for good reasons, generally distrusted and disliked. Next, 
shortly after his accession, Charles married Henrietta Maria, a 
French Catholic princess, whose religion was hated by the majority 
of the English people, and whose extravagant habits soon got the 
king into trouble. To meet her incessant demands for money, 
and to carry on a petty war with Spain, he was obliged to ask 
Parliament for funds. Parliament declined to grant him a supply 
unless he would redress certain grievances of long standing. 
Charles refused and dissolved that body. 

483. The Second Parliament ; Hampden. — Necessity, how- 
ever, compelled the king to call a new Parliament. When they 
met, the Commons, under the lead of Sir John Eliot and others, 



DIVINE RIGHT OF KINGS AND PEOPLE. 239 

proceeded to draw up articles of impeachment, accusing the Duke 
of Buckingham of mismanagement. To save his favorite from 
being brought to trial, the king dissolved Parliament, and as no 
supply had been voted, Charles now levied illegal taxes and 
extorted loans. 

John Hampden, a country gentleman of Buckinghamshire, who 
had been a member of the late House of Commons, refused to 
lend his majesty the sum asked for. For this refusal he was 
thrown into prison. This led to increased agitation and discon- 
tent. At length the king found himself again forced to summon 
Parliament ; to this Parliament Hampden and others, who sym- 
pathized with him, were elected. 

484. The Petition of Right. — Immediately on assembling, 
they presented to the king the Petition of Right, which was in sub- 
stance a law reaffirming some of the chief provisions of the Great 
Charter. It stipulated in particular, that no taxes whatever should 
be levied without the consent of Parliament, and that no one 
should be unlawfully imprisoned as Hampden had been. In the 
petition there was not an angry word, but as a member of the Com- 
mons declared, " We say no more than what a worm trodden upon 
would say if he could speak : I pray thee tread upon me no more." 

485. Charles revives Monopolies. — Charles refused to sign 
the Petition ; but finding that money could be got on no other terms, 
he at length gave his signature. But for Charles to pledge his 
royal word to the nation meant its direct and open violation. The 
king now revived the " monopolies " which had been abolished 
under Elizabeth. By these he granted to certain persons, in return 
for large sums of money, the sole right of dealing in nearly every 
article of food, drink, fuel, and clothing. The Commons de- 
nounced this outrage. One member said, " The monopolists have 
seized everything. They sip in our cup, they sup in our dish, they 
sit by our fire." 

486. The King rules without Parliament; "Thorough." — 

For the next eleven years the king ruled without a Parliament. 



24O LEADING FACTS OF ENGLISH HISTORY. 

The obnoxious Buckingham had been assassinated. His successor 
was Thomas Wentworth, who, in 1640, became Earl of Strafford. 
Wentworth had signed the " Petition of Right," but he was now a 
renegade to liberty, and wholly devoted to the king. By means 
of the Star-Chamber and his scheme called "Thorough," by which 
he meant that he would stop at nothing to make Charles absolute, 
he labored to establish a complete despotism. Bishop Laud, who 
soon became head of the church, worked with him through the 
High Commission Court. Together, the two exercised a crushing 
and merciless system of political and religious tyranny ; the Star- 
Chamber fining and imprisoning those who refused the illegal de- 
mands for money made upon them, the High Commission Court 
equally zealous in punishing those who could not conscientiously 
conform to the established church of England. 

487. Eliot's Remonstrance. — Sir John Eliot drew up a re- 
monstrance against these new acts of royal tyranny, but the 
speaker of the House of Commons, acting under the king's order, 
refused to put the measure to vote, and endeavored to adjourn. 
Several members sprang forward and held him in his chair while 
the resolutions were passed, declaring that whoever levied or paid 
any taxes not voted by Parliament, or attempted to make any 
change in religion, was an enemy to the kingdom. In revenge 
Charles sent Eliot to the Tower, where he died three years later. 

488. Ship -Money. — To obtain means with which to equip a 
standing army, the king forced the whole country to pay a tax 
known as ship money, on the pretext that it was needed to free 
the English coast from the depredations of Algerine pirates. 
During previous reigns an impost of this kind on the coast towns 
in time of war might have been considered legitimate, since its 
original object was to provide ships for the national defence. In 
time of peace, however, such a demand could not be rightfully 
made, especially as the Petition of Right expressly provided that 
no money should be demanded from the country without the con- 
sent of its representatives in Parliament. John Hampden again 



DIVINE RIGHT OF KINGS AND PEOPLE. 24I 

resisted payment. The case was brought to trial, and the corrupt 
judges decided for the king. 

489. Hampden endeavors to leave the Country. — Many Puri- 
tans now emigrated to America to escape oppression. Hampden, 
believing that there was no safety for him in England, resolved to 
follow their example. With his cousin Oliver Cromwell, who was 
a brother- farmer, and had sat with him in the last Parliament, 
Hampden embarked on a vessel in the Thames, but they were 
prevented from sailing by the king's orders. The two friends re- 
mained to teach the despotic sovereign a lesson which neither he 
nor England ever forgot.* 

490. The Difficulty with the Scottish Church. — In 1637 the 
king determined to force the use of a prayer-book, similar to that 
used in the English church, on the Scotch Puritans. But no sooner 
had the Dean of Edinburgh opened the book, than a general cry 
arose in the church, " A Pope, a Pope ! Antichrist ! stone him ! '" 
When the bishops endeavored to appease the tumult, the enraged 
congregation clapped and yelled. 

Again the dean tried to read prayer from the hated book, when 
an old woman hurled her stool at his head, shouting, "D'ye mean 
to say mass 1 at my lug [ear] ? " Riots ensued, and eventually the 
Scotch solemnly bound themselves by a covenant to resist all 
attempts to change them religion. _ r The king resolved to force his 
liturgy on the Covenanters at the point of the bayonet. But he 
had no money to pay his army, and the "Short Parliament" which 
he summoned refused to grant any unless the king would redress 
the nation's grievances. As a last resort, he summoned that memo- 
rable Parliament in 1 640, which, because it sat almost continuously 
for thirteen years, got the name of the " Long Parliament." 2 

491. The Long Parliament (1640) . — The new Parliament was 
made up of three parties : the Church of England party, the Pres- 

1 Mass : here used for the Roman Catholic church service. 

2 Long Parliament: it was not finally dissolved until 1660, twenty years from its 
first meeting. * Guizot's Eng. Revol. ; recent authorities deny the Cromwell incident. 



242 LEADING FACTS OF ENGLISH HISTORY. 

byterian party, and the Independents. The spirit of this body 
soon showed itself. They impeached Strafford for his many years 
of despotic oppression, and sentenced him to execution. The 
king refused to sign the death warrant, but Strafford himself urged 
him to do so in order to appease the people. Charles, frightened 
at the tumult that had arisen, and entreated by his wife, finally put 
his hand to the paper, and thus sent his most faithful servant to 
the block. Parliament next charged Laud with attempting to 
overthrow the Protestant religion. They condemned him to prison, 
and ultimately to death. Next, they abolished the Star- Chamber 
and the High Commission Court. They then passed a bill requir- 
ing Parliament to be summoned once in three years. They fol- 
lowed this by drawing up the Jrand Remonstrance, which they 
caused to be printed and circulated throughout the country. The 
Remonstrance set forth the faults of the king's government, while it 
declared their distrust of his policy. Finally, they enacted a law 
forbidding the dissolution of the present Parliament except by its 
own consent. 

492. The Attempted Arrest of the Five Members. — It was 

now rumored, and perhaps with truth, that the parliamentary 
leaders were about to take a still bolder step and impeach the 
queen for having conspired with the Catholics and the Irish to 
destroy the liberties of the country. No one knew better than 
Charles how strong a case could be made out against his frivolous 
and unprincipled consort. Driven to extremities, he determined 
to seize the five members, Hampden, Pym, and three others, who 
headed the opposition, on a charge of high treason. 1 The House 
of Commons was requested to give them up for trial. The request 
was not complied with. The queen urged him to take them by 
force, saying, " Go, coward, pull those rogues out by the ears." 
Thus taunted, the king, attended by an armed force, went on the 

* The full list was Hampden, Pym, Hollis, Haselrig, and Strode, to which a 
sixth, Mandeville, was added later. See Copley's fine picture in the Art Room of 
the Boston Public Library. 



DIVINE RIGHT OF KINGS AND PEOPLE. 243 

next day to the House of Parliament, purposing to seize the mem- 
bers. They had been forewarned, and had left the House, taking 
refuge in the city, which showed itself then, as always, on the side 
of liberty. Leaving his soldiers at the door, the king entered the 
House. Seeing that the members were absent, the king turned to 
the speaker and asked him where they were. The speaker kneel- 
ing, begged the king's pardon for not answering, saying, " that he 
could neither see nor speak but by command of the House." 
Vexed that he could learn nothing further, Charles left the hall 
amid ominous cries of " Privilege ! privilege ! " 1 

493. Civil War. — The king, baffled in his purpose, resolved 
to coerce Parliament by military force. He left London in 1642, 
never to return until he came as a prisoner, and was delivered into 
the custody of that legislative body which he had insulted and 
defied. Parliament now attempted to come to an understanding 
with the king. There was then no standing army in England, but 
each county and large town had a body of militia, formed of 
citizens who were occasionally mustered for drill. This militia 
was under the control of the king. Parliament now insisted on 
his resigning that control to them. The king refused to give up 
his undoubted constitutional right in the matter, raised the royal 
flag at Nottingham, and the war began. 



)4. Cavaliers and Roundheads. — It opened in the autumn 
of fchat year with the battle of Edgehill, Warwickshire, and was at 
first favorable to the king. On his side were a majority of the 
nobility, the clergy, and the country gentlemen, known collectively 
as Cavaliers, from their dashing and daring horsemanship. Their 
leader was Prince Rupert, a nephew of Charles. 2 On the side of 
Parliament were the shop-keepers, small farmers, and a few men 
of high rank ; they were called in ridicule the Roundheads, from 

1 Privilege: the privilege of Parliament to debate all questions exempt from 
royal interference. 

2 See " A Charge with Prince Rupert," Atlantic Magazine (T. W. Higginson), 
Vol. III. 725. 



244 LEADING FACTS OF ENGLISH HISTORY. 

their fashion of wearing their hair closely cropped, so that . it 
showed the shape of the head* Their leaders were first Essex 
and Fairfax, and later, Oliver Cromwell. 

495. How the Country was divided. — Taking England as a 
whole, we may say that the eastern half, with London, was against 
the king, and that the western half was for him. 1 Each side made 
great sacrifices in carrying on the war. The queen sold her crown 
jewels, and the Cavaliers melted down their silver plate to provide 
money to pay the troops. On behalf of the people, Parliament 
imposed heavy taxes, and levied now for the first time a duty on 
domestic products, especially on ales and liquors, known as the 
excise tax. They also required each household to fast once a 
week, and give the price of a dinner to support the army. Parlia- 
ment also passed what was called the Self-denying Ordinance, 
which required all members who held any civil or military office to 
resign, and as Cromwell said, " deny themselves and their private 
interests for the public good." The real object of this measure 
was to get rid of incompetent commanders, and give the army the 
vigorous men that the times demanded. 

With the outbreak of the war great numbers of little local news- 
papers sprang into short-lived existence in imitation of the first 
publication of that sort, the "Weekly News," which was issued 
not quite twenty years before in the reign of James I. 2 Each of 
the rival armies, it is said, carried a printing-press with it, and 
waged furious battles in type against the other. The whole 
country was inundated with floods of pamphlets discussing every 
conceivable religious and political question. 3 

496. The " New Model " ; the Solemn League and Covenant. 

— At the first battle fought (Edgehill, Warwickshire) Cromwell 

1 See Map No. 13, and Paragraph No. 34. 

2 The first number of the " Weekly News," published by Nathaniel Butter and 
associates, appeared May 22, 1622. Previous to that there had been occasional 
papers published in London ; this was the first regular sheet. 

3 About 30,000 pamphlets came out between 1640-1660. 



No. 13. 



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The country west of the hroad dotted line supported the cause of Charles L; 

that on the east supported Parliament. 



DIVINE RIGHT OF KINGS AND PEOPLE. 245 

saw that the Cavaliers had the advantage, and told Hampden that 
" a set of poor tapsters [drawers of liquor] and town apprentices 
would never fight against men of honor." He forthwith pro- 
ceeded to organize his regiment of " Ironsides," a " lovely com- 
pany," as he said, none of whom swore or gambled. After the 
Self-denying Ordinance was passed, Cromwell and Fairfax formed 
a new army of " God-fearing men " on the same pattern, almost 
all of whom were Independents. This was called the " New 
Model," and was placed under the joint command of the men 
who organized it. Very many of its officers were kinsmen of 
Cromwell's, and it speedily became the most formidable body of 
soldiers of its size in the world — always ready to preach, pray, 
exhort, or fight. 1 

Meanwhile Parliament endeavored to persuade the Scotch to 
join them against the king. They finally agreed to do so on con- 
dition that Parliament should sign the Solemn League and Cove- 
nant, establishing the Scotch Presbyterian form of worship as the 
state religion of England and Ireland ; to this all were obliged to 
conform. 

"*97. Marston Moor and Naseby. — On the field of Marston 
Moor in 1644, the North of England was conquered by Cromwell 
with his invincible little army. The following year Cromwell's 
" Ironsides," who " trusted in God and kept their powder dry," 
gained the decisive victory of Naseby (1645). This practically 
ended the war. After the fight, papers belonging to the king were 
picked up on the battle-field which proved that Charles intended 
betraying those who were negotiating with him for peace, and that 
he was planning to bring foreign troops to England, "phis dis- 
covery was more damaging to the royal cause than the defeat itself. 

498. The King and Parliament. — Shortly after this, Charles 
was surrendered to Parliament by the Scotch, to whom he had 

1 " The common soldiers, as well as the officers, did not only pray and preach 
among themselves, but went up into the pulpits in all churches and preached to the 
people." Clarendon's History of the Rebellion, Book X. p. 79. 



246 LEADING FACTS OF ENGLISH HISTORY. 

fled, and taken to Holmby House, Northamptonshire. There 
Cromwell and the army made overtures to him, but without effect. 
He was then brought by the army to Hampton Court, near Lon- 
don. Here, and elsewhere, the army again attempted to come to 
some definite understanding with the king, but all to no purpose. 
Politically speaking, Charles was his own worst enemy. He was 
false to the core, and, as Carlyle has said, " a man whose word 
will not inform you at all what he means, or will do, is not a man 
you can bargain with. You must get out of that man's way, or 
put him out of yours." 1 

499. Pride's Purge. — In 1648, after two years spent in fruit- 
less negotiations, Charles,_who had fled to Carisbrooke Castle in 
the Isle of Wight, made a secret treaty with the Scots, promising 
to establish the Presbyterian church in England, if they would 
send an army into the country to restore him to the throne. The 
Scots marched into England, the Royalists rose to aid them, and 
civil war again broke out. The army now vowed that if they were 
victorious they would bring the king to justice. To this neither 
the Presbyterians in the House of Commons nor the members of 
the House of Lords would agree. 

Colonel Pride then proceeded, as he said, to purge Parliament 
by driving out all who were opposed to this measure. Cromwell 
had no part in Pride's expulsion of members, though he afterwards 
expressed his approval of it. Those who remained were a small 
body of Independents only. They did not number sixty, and were 
called in derision the Rump Parliament. 

500. Execution of the King. — This legislative remnant next 
named one hundred and thirty-five persons to constitute a high 
court of justice to try the king on a charge of treason against the 
nation, of which the chief judge or presiding officer was John 
Bradshaw. Out of this number less than half were present 
throughout the trial. Of those who remained and signed the 

1 Carlvle's Past and Present. 



DIVINE RIGHT OF KINGS AND PEOPLE. 247 

death-warrant Cromwell was one. Prince Charles, then a refugee 
in France, made every effort to save his father. He sent a blank 
paper bearing his signature and seal to the judges, offering to bind 
himself to any conditions they might insert, providing his father's 
life might be spared ; but no answer was returned. 

On Jan. 20, 1649, tne king was brought into court. A week 
later the judges pronounced sentence of death on " Charles Stuart, 
king of England," as a " tyrant, traitor, murderer, and public 
enemy." 

Throughout the trial Charles bore himself with dignity and self- 
possession. The crisis had brought out the best elements of his 
nature. He was beheaded in London in front of the royal palace 
of Whitehall. " A great shudder ran through the crowd that saw 
the deed, then a shriek, then all immediately dispersed." 

501. Summary. — The whole of Charles I.'s reign must be 
regarded as a prolonged struggle between the king and the nation. 
Under the Tudors and James I. the royal power had been growing 
more and more despotic, while at the same time the progress of 
the Protestant Reformation and of Puritanism had encouraged 
freedom of thought. Between these opposite forces a collision 
was inevitable, since religious liberty always favors political lib- 
erty. Had Charles known how to yield in time, or been sincere 
in the concessions which he did make, all might have gone well. 
His duplicity was his ruin. Though his death did not absolutely 
destroy the theory of the Divine Right of Kings, yet it gave it a 
blow from which it never recovered. 

THE COMMONWEALTH AND PROTECTORATE.— 1649-1660= 

502. Establishment of the Commonwealth, or Republic (1649- 

1660). — On the afternoon of Jan. 30, 1649, while the crowd 
that had witnessed the execution of Charles was slowly leaving the 
spot, the House of Commons passed an act prohibiting the pro- 
claiming of any person king of England or Ireland or the domin- 
ions thereof. 



248 LEADING FACTS OF ENGLISH HISTORY. 

Less than two months afterward they abolished the House of 
Lords as both useless and dangerous. England was now a republic, 
governed, in name at least, by a council of state. Of this council 
John Bradshaw was president, the poet Milton was foreign secre- 
tary, while Fairfax with Cromwell had command of the army. 
The real power was in the army, and the true head of the army was 
Cromwell. Without him the so-called republic could not have 
stood a day. 

503. Radical Changes. — All members of the House of Com- 
mons, with those who held any civil or military office, were re- 
quired to swear allegiance to the Commonwealth " without king or 
House of Lords." The use of the English church service was 
forbidden, and the statues of Charles in London were pulled down 
and demolished. The great seal of England was broken, and a 
new one adopted, having on one side a map of England and 
Ireland, on the other a representation of the Commons in session, 
with the words, " In the first year of freedom, by God's blessing 
restored 1648."* 

504. Difficulties of the New Republic. — Shortly after the 
establishment of the Commonwealth, Fairfax resigned his com- 
mand, and Cromwell was now the sole leader of the military forces 
of the country. But the new government, even with his aid, 
had no easy task before it. It had enemies in the Royalists, 
who, since the king's execution, had grown stronger ; in the Pres- 
byterians, who hated both the Rump Parliament and the army ; 
finally it had enemies in its own ranks in half- crazy fanatics, 
"Levellers," 1 " Come-outers," 2 and other "cattle and creeping 
things," who would be satisfied with nothing but destruction and 
confusion. Among them were communists, who, like those of the 

1 " Levellers " : a name given to certain radical republicans who wished to re- 
duce all ranks and classes to the same level with respect to political power and 
privileges. * 1648, or 1649, N. S. See p. 318, note. 

2 '• Come-outers " : this, though a modern term, describes a class who aban- 
doned all established ways, both of government and religion. 



DIVINE RIGHT OF KINGS AND PEOPLE. 249 

present day, wished to abolish private property, and establish " an 
equal division of unequal earnings," while others declared and 
acted out their belief in the coming end of the world. Eventually 
Cromwell had to deal with these enthusiasts in a decided way, 
especially as some of them threatened to assassinate him in order 
to hasten the personal reign of Christ and his saints on earth. 

505. Risings in Ireland and Scotland; Worcester. — In Ireland 
the Royalists had proclaimed Prince Charles king. Cromwell was 
deputed to reduce that country to order. To his invincible army 
of Independents nothing could, have been more congenial than 
such a crusade. They descended upon the unhappy island, and 
wiped out the rebellion in such a whirlwind of fire and slaughter, 
that the horror of the visitation has never been forgotten. To this 
day the direst imprecation a southern Irishman can utter is, " the 
curse of Cromwell on ye." 

In Scotland also Charles was looked upon as the legitimate 
sovereign by a strong and influential party. He found in the brave 
Montrose, 1 who was hanged for treason at Edinburgh, and in other 
loyal supporters far better friends than he deserved. In 1650 the 
prince came to Scotland, took the oath of the Covenant, which 
must have been a bitter pill to him, and rallied a small force, which 
was completely defeated that year at Dunbar. 

Twelve months later, on the anniversary of the victory of Dunbar, 
Charles made a second attempt to obtain the crown. At the 
battle of Worcester, Cromwell again routed his forces and brought 
the war to an end. Charles escaped into Shropshire, where he hid 
for a day in an oak at Boscobel. After many narrow escapes he 
at length succeeded in getting out of the country. 

506. Cromwell expels Parliament. — Cromwell now urged the 
necessity of calling a Parliament which should represent the coun- 
try, reform the laws, and pass a general act of pardon. In his 
despatch to the House of Commons after the victory of Wor- 
cester, he called the battle a " crowning mercy." Some of the 

1 See Aytoun's Scottish Ballads : the Execution of Montrose. 



250 LEADING FACTS OF ENGLISH HISTORY. 

republicans in that body took alarm at this phrase, and thought 
that Cromwell used it to foreshadow a design to place the crown on 
his own head. For this reason, perhaps, they hesitated to dissolve. 

But at last they could not withstand the pressure, and in 1653 
a bill was introduced for summoning a new Parliament of four 
hundred members, but with the provision that all members of the 
present House were to keep their seats, and have the right to 
reject newly elected members. 

Cromwell, with the army, believed this provision a trick on the 
part of the Rump to keep themselves in perpetual power. 

Sir Harry Vane, who was a leading member of the House, and 
who had been governor of the colony of Massachusetts, feared 
that the country was in danger of falling into the hands of Crom- 
well as military dictator. He therefore urged the immediate 
passage of the bill as it stood. Cromwell heard that a vote was 
about to be taken. Putting himself at the head of a squad of 
soldiers, whom he left at the door, he suddenly entered the House. 
After listening to the debate for some time, he rose from his seat 
and charged the Commons with injustice and misgovernment. A 
member remonstrated. Cromwell grew excited, saying, " You are 
no Parliament ! I say you are no Parliament ! " Then he called 
in the musketeers. The speaker was dragged from his chair, and 
the members driven after him. As they passed out, Cromwell 
shouted "drunkard," "glutton," " extortioner," with other oppro- 
brious names. When all were gone, he locked the door and put 
the key in his pocket. During the night some Royalist wag nailed 
a placard on the door, bearing the inscription in large letters, 
"This House to let, unfurnished ! " 

507. Cromwell becomes Protector (1653). — Cromwell now 
summoned a new Parliament of his own choosing. It consisted 
of one hundred and thirty-nine members, and was known as the 
" Little Parliament." 1 The Royalists nicknamed it " Barebone's 

1 A regularly summoned Parliament, elected by the people, would have been 
much larger. This was chosen from a list furnished by the ministers of the various 
Independent churches. It was in no true sense a representative body. 



DIVINE RIGHT OF KINGS AND PEOPLE. 25 1 

Parliament " from one of its members, a London leather merchant 
named Praise-God Barebone. Notwithstanding the irregularity of 
its organization and the ridicule cast upon it, the Barebone's Parlia- 
ment proposed several reforms of great value, which the country 
afterward adopted. 

A council now presented a constitution, entitled the " Instru- 
ment of Government," J which made Cromwell Lord Protector of 
England, Ireland, and Scotland. Up to this time the Common- 
wealth had been a republic, nominally under the control of the 
House of Commons, but as a matter of fact governed by Crom- 
well and the army ; now it became a republic under a Protector, 
or president, who was to hold his office for life. 

A few years later, a second constitution was drafted, called the 
"Humble Petition and Advice," 2 which offered Cromwell the 
crown. He would have taken it ; but finding the army would not 
support him in such a step, reluctantly relinquished it. He at the 
same time endeavored to restore the House of Lords, but could 
not get them to attend. 

508. Emigration of Royalists. — Under the tyranny of the 
Stuart kings many Puritans had emigrated to Massachusetts and 
other parts of New England. During the 'Commonwealth the 
case was reversed, and numbers of Royalists fled to Virginia. 
Among them were John Washington, the great-grandfather of 
George Washington, and the ancestors of Jefferson, Patrick Henry, 
the Lees, Randolphs, and other prominent families, destined in 
time to found a republic in the New World much more demo- 
cratic than anything the old had ever seen. 

1 " Instrument of Government " : the principal provisions of this constitution 
were : 1. The government was vested in the Protector and a council appointed for 
life ; 2. Parliament to be summoned every three years, and not to be dissolved under 
five months ; 3. A standing army of 30,000 to be maintained ; 4. All taxes to be 
levied by Parliament ; 5. The system of representation was reformed, so that many 
large places hitherto without representation in Parliament now obtained it ; 6. All 
Roman Catholics, and those concerned in the Irish rebellion, were disfranchised 
forever. 

2 " The Humble Petition and Advice " was a modification of the " Instrument 
of Government." 



252 LEADING FACTS OF ENGLISH HISTORY. 

509. Cromwell as a Ruler. — When Cromwell's new Parlia- 
ment ventured to criticise his course, he dissolved them quite as 
peremptorily as t^e late king. Soon after, fear of a Royalist re- 
bellion led him to divide the country into eleven military districts, 
each governed by a major-general, who ruled by martial law and 
with despotic power. All Royalist families were heavily taxed to 
support the standing army; all Catholic priests were banished, 
and no books or papers could be published without permission of 
the government. 

Cromwell, however, though compelled to resort to severe 
measures to secure peace, was, in spirit, no oppressor. On the 
contrary, he proved himself the Protector not only of the realm, 
but of the Protestants of Europe. When they were threatened 
with persecution, his influence saved them. ' He showed, too, that 
in an age of bigotry he was no bigot. Puritan fanaticism, exasper- 
ated by the persecution it had endured under James and Charles, 
often went to the utmost extremes, even as " Hudibras ,n said, to 
"killing of a cat on Monday for catching of a rat on Sunday." 

It treated the most innocent customs, if they were in any way 
associated with Catholicism, or Episcopacy, as serious offences. It 
closed all places of amusement ; it condemned mirth as ungodly ; 
it was a sin to dance round a May-pole, or to eat mince-pie at 
Christmas. Fox-hunting and horse-racing were forbidden, and 
bear-baiting prohibited, " not because it gave pain to the bear, but 
because it gave pleasure to the spectators." 

In such an age, when a man could hardly claim to be religious 
unless he wore sad-colored raiment, talked through his nose, and 
quoted Scripture at every sentence, Cromwell showed exceptional 
moderation and good sense. 

/510. His Religious Toleration. — He favored the toleration 
of all forms of worship not directly opposed to the govern- 

1 " Hudibras " : a burlesque poem by Samuel Butler. It was published in 1663, 
and satirizes all the leading persons and parties of the Commonwealth, but espe- 
cially the Puritans. 



DIVINE RIGHT OF KINGS AND PEOPLE. 253 

ment. He befriended the Quakers, who were then looked upon 
as the enemies of every form of worship, and were treated with 
cruel severity both in England and America. He was instrumen- 
tal in sending the first Protestant missionaries to Massachusetts to 
convert the Indians, then supposed by many to be a remnant of 
the lost tribes of Israel ; and after an exclusion of many centuries, 1 
he permitted the Jews to return to England, and even to build a 
synagogue in London. 

On the other hand, there are few of the cathedral or parish 
churches of England which do not continue to testify to the 
destructive hatred which during the civil wars vented itself on 
everything savoring of the rule of either pope or bishop. The 
empty niches, where some gracious image of the Virgin or the 
figure of some saint once looked down ; the patched remnants of 
brilliantly stained glass, once part of a picture telling some scrip- 
ture story; the mutilated tombs, broken, hacked, and hewed by 
pike and sword because on them was some emblem or expression 
of the old faith — all these still bear witness to the fury of the 
Puritan soldiers, who did not respect even the graves of their 
ancestors, if those ancestors had once thought differently from 
themselves. 

511. Victories by Land and Sea. — Yet during CromwelPs rule 
the country, notwithstanding all the restrictions imposed by a 
stern military government, grew and prospered. The English 
forces gained victories by land and sea, and made the name of the 
Protector respected as that of Charles had never been. At this 
period the carrying-trade of the world had fallen into the hands of 
the Dutch, and Amsterdam had become a more important centre 
of exchange than London. In 1651 the Commonwealth passed 
measures called Navigation Laws to encourage British commerce 
by prohibiting the importation or exportation of any goods into 
England or its colonies in Dutch vessels. Later, war with the 
Dutch broke out partly on account of questions of trade, and 

1 See Paragraph No. 274. 



254 LEADING FACTS OF ENGLISH HISTORY. 

partly because Royalist plotters found protection in Holland. 
Then Cromwell created such a navy as the country had never 
before possessed, and, under the command of Blake, the Dutch 
were beaten so thoroughly that they bound themselves to ever 
after salute the English flag wherever they should meet it on the 
seas. A war undertaken in alliance with France against Spain was 
equally successful. Jamaica was taken as a permanent possession 
by the British fleet, and France, out of gratitude for assistance, 
gave the town of Dunkirk to England, so that the flag of the 
Commonwealth was now planted on the French coast. 

512. Cromwell's Death; his Character. — After being king in 
everything but name for five years, Cromwell died Sept. 3, 1658/ 
on the anniversary of the victories of Dunbar and Worcester. 
During the latter part of his career he had lived in constant dread of 
assassination, and wore concealed armor. At the hour of his death 
one of the most fearful storms was raging that had ever swept over 
England. To many it seemed a fit accompaniment to the close 
of such a life. 1 

In one sense, Cromwell was a usurper and a tyrant ; but, at 
heart, his object was his country's welfare. In such cases the 
motive is all in all. He was a man of rough exterior and hard 
manner. He cared little for the smooth proprieties of life, yet he 
had that dignity of bearing which high moral purpose gives. In 
all that he did he was eminently practical. In an age of isms, 
theories, and experiments, he was never confused and never fal- 
tered in his course. 

513. The Times needed Such a Man. — There are emergencies 
when an ounce of decision is worth a pound of deliberation. 
When the ship is foundering or on fire, or when the crew have 
mutinied, it will not avail to sit in the cabin and discuss how it 



1 Cromwell was always a lonely man, and had so few real friends that Walter 
Scott may have expressed his true feeling when he makes him say in " Wood- 
stock " : " I would / had any creature, were it but a dog, that followed me because 
it loved me, not for what it could make of me." 



DIVINE RIGHT OF KINGS AND PEOPLE. 255 

happened. Something must be done, and that promptly. Crom- 
well was the man for such a juncture. He saw clearly that if the 
country was to be kept together, it must be by decided measures, 
which no precedent, law, or constitution justified, but which stood 
justified none the less by the exigencies of the crisis, by his own 
conscious rectitude of purpose, and by the result. 

If there is any truth in Napoleon's maxim, that " the tools be- 
long to him that can use them," then Cromwell had a God-given 
right to rule ; for, first, he had the ability; and, next, if we except 
his campaign in Ireland, he employed it, all things considered, on 
the side of order and of justice. 

514. Summary. — Cromwell's original purpose appears to have 
been to establish a government representing the will of the nation 
more completely than it had ever been before. He favored the 
restoration of the House of Lords, he endeavored to reform the 
laws, and he sought to secure religious toleration for the great body 
of Protestants. Circumstances, however, were often against him ; 
he had many enemies, and in order to secure peace he was obliged 
to resort to absolute power. Yet the difference in this respect 
between him and Charles I. was immense ; the latter was despotic 
on his own account, the former for the advantage of those he 
governed. 

RICHARD CROMWELL— Sept. 3, 1658, to April 22, I659. 1 

515. Richard Cromwell's Incompetency. — Richard Crom- 
well, Oliver's eldest son, now succeeded to the Protectorate. He 
was an amiable individual, as negative in character as his father 
had been positive. With the extreme Puritans, known as the 
" godly party," he had no sympathy whatever. " Here," said he 
to one of them, pointing to a friend of his who stood by, " is a 
man who can neither preach nor pray, yet I would trust him be- 

1 Richard Cromwell continued to reside in the royal palace of Whitehall until 
)uly. but he virtually gave up all power in ApriL 



256 LEADING FACTS OF ENGLISH HISTORY. 

fore you all." Such frankness was not likely to make the new 
ruler popular with the army made up of men who never lacked a 
scripture text to justify either a murder or a massacre. More- 
over, the times were perilous, and called for a decided hand at the 
helm. After a brief reign of less than eight months the military 
leaders requested Richard to resign, and soon after recalled the 
Rump Parliament. 

516. Richard retires. — The Protector retired not only with- 
out remonstrance, but apparently with a sense of relief at being so 
soon eased of a burden too heavy for his weak shoulders to carry. 
To the people he was hereafter familiarly known as " Tumble- 
down-Dick," and was caricatured as such on tavern sign-boards. 
The nation pensioned him off with a moderate allowance, and he 
lived in obscurity to an advanced age, carrying about with him to 
the last a trunk filled with the congratulatory addresses and oaths 
of allegiance which he had received when he became Protector. 

Years after his abdication it is reported that he visited West- 
minster, and when the attendant, who did not recognize him, 
showed him the throne, he said, " Yes ; I have not seen that chair 
since I sat in it myself in 1659." 

517. The Convention Parliament. — The year following Rich- 
ard's withdrawal was full of anxiety and confusion. The army had 
dissolved Parliament, there was no longer any regularly organized 
government, and the country drifted helplessly like a ship without 
a pilot. 

General Monk, then commander-in-chief in Scotland, now 
marched into England with the determination of calling a new 
Parliament which should be full, free, and representative of the 
real political feeling of the nation. When he reached London 
with his army, the members of the Rump had resumed their ses- 
sions. At Monk's invitation the Presbyterian members, whom 
Colonel Pride had driven from their seats eleven years before, now 
went back. This assembly issued writs for the summoning of a 
Convention Parliament (so styled because called without royal 



DIVINE RIGHT OF KINGS AND PEOPLE. 257 

authority), and then dissolved by their own consent. Thus ended 
tnat memorable Long Parliament which had existed nearly twenty 
years. About a month later the Convention, including ten mem- 
bers of the House of Lords, met, and at once invited Charles 
Stuart, then in Holland, to return to his kingdom. 1 

518. Summary. — Richard Cromwell's government existed in 
name only, never in fact. During his so-called protectorate the 
country was under the control of the army, or of that Rump Par- 
liament which represented nothing but itself. The period which 
elapsed after Oliver Cromwell's death was one of waiting and 
preparation. It ended in the meeting of the free national Parlia- 
ment, which put an end to the republic, and restored royalty in /the 
person of Charles II. . 

CHARLES IL — 1660-1685. 

519. The Accession of Charles. — The English army heard that 
Charles was coming, with sullen silence ; the ex-members of the 
Rump, with sullen dread ; the rest of the nation, with a feeling 
of relief. However much they had hated the despotism of the 
Stuarts, four-fifths of the people welcomed any change which 
promised to do away with a government maintained by bayonets. 

Charles was received at Dover with the wildest demonstrations 
of joy. Bells pealed, flags waved, bonfires blazed all the way to 
London, and the king said, with characteristic irony, " It must have 
been my own fault that I did not come before, for I find no one 
but declares that he is glad to see me," 

The fact that the republic had existed was as far as possible 
ignored. The new reign was dated, not when it actually began, 

lln anticipation of this event Charles had issued certain promises at Breda, 
Holland, called the Declaration of Breda, which granted — 

1. Free pardon to all those not excepted by Parliament. 

2. Liberty of conscience to all whose views did not disturb the peace of the 
realm. 

3. The settlement by Parliament of all claims to landed property. 

4. The payment of arrears to Monk's army. ' 



258 LEADING FACTS OF ENGLISH HISTORY. 

but from the day of Charles I.'s execution twelve years before. 
The troops of the Commonwealth were speedily disbanded, but 
the king retained a picked guard of 5000 men, which became the 
nucleus of a new standing army. 

520. The King's Character. — The sovereign who now as- 
cended the throne was in every respect the opposite of Crom- 
well. Charles had no love of country, no sense of duty, no belief 
in man, no respect for woman. Evil circumstances and evil com- 
panions had made him " a good-humored but hard-hearted volup- 
tuary." For twelve years he had been a wanderer, and at times 
almost a beggar. Now the sole aim of his life was enjoyment. He 
desired to be king because he would then have every means for 
accomplishing that aim. 

521. Reaction from Puritanism. — In this purpose Charles 
had the sympathy of a considerable part of the people. The Puri- 
tan faith, represented by such men as Milton and Hampden, was 
noble indeed ; but unfortunately there were many in its ranks who 
had no like grandeur of soul, but who pushed Puritanism to 
its most injurious and offensive extreme. That attempt to reduce 
the whole of life to a narrow system of sour self-denial had at last 
broken down. Now, under the Restoration, the reaction set in, and 
the lower and earthly side of human nature — none the less human 
because it is at the bottom and not at the top — seemed deter- 
mined to take its full revenge. Butler ridiculed religious zeal in 
his poem of " Hudibras," which every courtier had by heart. 
Society was smitten with an epidemic of immorality. Profligacy 
became the fashion in both speech and action, and much of the 
popular literature of that day will not bear the light. 

522. The Royal Favorites; the Cabal. — The king surrounded 
himself with men like himself. They vied with each other -in dis- 
sipation and in jests on each other. Charles's two chief favorites 
were the Earl of Rochester, a gifted but ribald poet, and Lord 
Shaftesbury, who became chancellor. Both have left on record 



DIVINE RIGHT OF KINGS AND PEOPLE. 259 

their estimate of -their royal master. The first wrote on the door 
of the king's bed-chamber : — 

" Here lies our sovereigiv lord, the king, 
Whose word no man velies on; 
He never says a foolish thing, 
Nor ever does a wise one." 

To which Charles, on reading it, retorted, " 'Tis true ! because 
while my words are my own, my acts are my ministers'." 

A bright repartee tells us what the second favorite thought. 
" Ah ! Shaftesbury," said the king to him one day, " I verily be- 
lieve you are the wickedest dog in my dominions." "Yes, your 
Majesty," replied Shaftesbury, "for a subject I think perhaps I 
may be." 

The new reign, from a political point of view, began decently 
and ably with the Earl of Clarendon as leading minister, but in a 
few years it degenerated into an administration called the Cabal, 
which was simply a government of debauchees, whose sole object 
was to advance their own private interests by making the king 
supreme. 1 Its character and deeds may best be learned from that 
picture of the council of the " infernal peers," which Milton por- 
trayed in " Paradise Lost," where the five princes of evil, Moloch, 
Belial, Mammon, Beelzebub, and Satan, meet in the palace of 
Pandemonium to plot the ruin of the world. 2 

1 This word was originally used to designate the confidential members of the 
king's private council, and meant perhaps no more than the word cabinet does to- 
day. In 1667 it happened, however, by a singular coincidence, that the initial 
letters of the five persons comprising it, namely (C)lifford, (A)shley-Cooper [Lord 
Shaftesbury], (B)uckingham, (A)rlington, and (L)auderdale formed the word 
CABAL, which henceforth came to have the odious meaning of secret and unscru- 
pulous intrigue that it has ever since retained. It was to Charles II.'s time what 
the political " ring " is to our own. 

2 Milton's Paradise Lost, Book II. The first edition was published in 1667, 
the year the Cabal came into power, though its members had long been favorites 
with the king. It has been supposed by some that the great Puritan poet had them 
in his mind when he represented the Pandemonic debate. Shaftesbury and Buck- 
ingham are also two of the most prominent characters in Dryden's political satire 
of Absalom and Achitophel, published in 1681. 



26o LEADING FACTS OF ENGLISH HISTORY. 

523. Punishment of the Regicides. — The first act of Charles's 
first Parliament was to proclaim a pardon to all who had fought 
against his father in the civil war. The only persons excepted 
were the members of that High Court of Justice which had sent 
Charles I. to the block. Of these, ten were executed and nineteen 
imprisoned for life. Most of the other regicide judges were either 
already out of the country, or managed to escape soon after. 
Among these, William Goffe, Edward Whalley, and Col. John Dix- 
well took refuge in Connecticut, where they remained concealed 
for several years. Eventually the first two went to Hadley, Massa- 
chusetts, where they lived in seclusion in the house of a clergyman 
until their death. The bodies of Cromwell, Ireton, Bradshaw, and 
Pride were dug up from their graves in Westminster Abbey, and 
hanged in chains at Tyburn. 1 They were then buried at the foot 
of the gallows, along with the mouldering remains of highway rob- 
bers And criminals of the lowest sort. 

524. Religious Persecution ; Covenanters ; Bunyan. — The 

Episcopal form of worship was now restored, and in the course of 
the next few years severe laws were passed against the Noncon- 
formists, or Dissenters. 2 The Corporation Act ordered all holders 
of municipal offices to renounce the Puritan covenant, 3 and take the 
sacrament of the Church of England. Next, the Act of Uniformity 
enforced the use of the Episcopal Prayer-book upon all clergymen 
and congregations. This was followed by a law 4 forbidding all 

1 Tyburn, near the northeast entrance to Hyde Park, London. It was for sev- 
eral centuries the chief place for the public execution of felons. 

2 The chief Nonconformists, aside from the Roman Catholics, were : I. The 
Presbyterians. 2. The Independents, or Congregationahsts. 3. The Baptists. 4. 
The Society of Friends, or Quakers. Originally the name Nonconformist was given 
to those who refused to conform to the worship of the Church of England, or 
Episcopacy, and endeavored to change it to suit their views. Later, when the 
Nonconformists gave up that attempt, and asked only for permission to worship 
according to their own convictions, they received the milder name of Dissenters. 

8 Covenant : the oath or agreement to maintain the Presbyterian faith and wor- 
•ship. It originated in Scotland. See Paragraph No. 490. 

4 Conventicle Act : from conventicle, a religious meeting of Dissenters. 



DIVINE RIGHT OF KINGS AND PEOPLE. 26l 

religious assemblies whatever, except such as worshipped accord- 
ing to the established church. Lastly, the Five-Mile Act forbade 
all dissenting ministers from teaching in schools, or settling within 
five miles of an incorporated town. 

By these stringent statutes 2000 Presbyterian clergymen were 
driven from their parishes in a single day, and reduced to the 
direst distress. The able-bodied among them might indeed pick 
up a precarious livelihood by hard labor, but the old and the weak 
soon found their refuge in the grave. 

Those who dared to resist these intolerant and inhuman laws 
were punished with fines, imprisonment, or slavery. The Scottish 
Parliament — a Parliament, says Bishop Burnet, "mostly drunk" — 
vied with that of England in persecution of the Dissenters. " 

The Covenanters were hunted with bugle and bloodhound, like 
so many deer, by Claverhouse and his men, who hanged and 
drowned without mercy those who gathered secretly in glens and 
caves to worship God. Even when nothing certain was known 
against those who were seized, there was no trial. The father of 
a family would be dragged from his cottage by the soldiers, asked 
if he would take the test of conformity to the Church of England 
anpl to Charles's government ; if not, then came the order, " Make 
ready- — present — fire ! " — and there lay the corpse of the rebel. 

Among the multitudes who suffered in England for religion's 
sake was a poor day-laborer named John Bunyan. He had 
served against the king in the civil wars, and later had become 
converted to Puritanism, and turned exhorter and itinerant 
preacher. He was arrested and convicted of having " devilishly 
and perniciously abstained from coming to church." The judge 
sentenced him to Bedford jail, where he remained a prisoner for 
twelve years. It was, he says, a squalid " Denn." * But in his 
marvellous dream of " A Pilgrimage from this World to the Next," 
he forgot the misery of his surroundings. Like Milton, in his 

1 " As I walk'd through the wilderness of this world, I lighted on a certain 
place where was a Denn, and I laid me down in that place to sleep : and as I 
slept I dreamed a dream." The Pilgrim's Progress, edition of 1678. 



262 LEADING FACTS OF ENGLISH HISTORY. 

blindness, loneliness, and poverty, he looked within and found 

that — 

" The mind is its own place, and in itself 
Can make a heaven of hell." 1 

525. Seizure of a Dutch Colony. — While these things were 
going on in England, a disgraceful event took place abroad. The 
Dutch had established a colony in America, and built a town 
on Manhattan Island at the mouth of the Hudson River, which 
they called New Amsterdam. 

A treaty made by England with Holland under the Common- 
wealth had recognized the claims of the Dutch in the New World. 

Charles, however, had no intention of keeping faith with Hol- 
land ; and though the two nations were at peace, resolved to seize 
the territory. He accordingly granted it to his brother James, 
Duke of York, and sent out a secret expedition to capture the 
colony in his behalf. 

One day an English fleet suddenly appeared in the harbor of 
the Dutch town, and demanded its immediate and unconditional 
surrender. The governor was unprepared to make any defence, 
and the place was given up. Thus, without so much as the firing 
of a gun, New Amsterdam got the name of New York in honor of 
the man who, with his royal brother, had with characteristic 
treachery planned and perpetrated the robbery. 

526. The Plague and the Fire. — In 1665 a terrible outbreak 
of the plague occurred in London, which spread throughout the 
kingdom. All who could fled from the city. Hundreds of houses 
were left vacant, while on hundreds more a cross marked on the 
doors in red chalk, with the words " Lord have mercy on us," 
written underneath, told where the work of death was going on. 2 

1 Paradise Lost, Book I. 253. 

2 Pepys writes in his diary, describing the beginning of the plague: " The 7th of 
June, 1665, was the hottest day I ever felt in my life. This day, much against my 
will, I did in Drury Lane see two or three houses with a red cross upon the door, 
and ' Lord have mercy upon us ' writ there, which was a sad sight." Pepys' Diary, 
1660-1669. Defoe wrote a journal of the plague in 1722, based, probably, on the 
reports of eyewitnesses. It gives a vivid and truthful account of its horrors. 



DIVINE RIGHT OF KINGS AND PEOPLE. 263 

This pestilence swept off over a hundred thousand victims within 
six months. Among the few brave men who voluntarily remained 
in the stricken city were the Puritan ministers, who stayed to com- 
fort and console the sick and dying. After the plague was over, 
they received their reward in those acts of persecution which drove 
them homeless and helpless from their parishes and friends. 

The dead-cart had hardly ceased to go its rounds, when a fire 
(1666) broke out, of which Evelyn, a courtier, who witnessed it, 
wrote, that it "was not to be outdone until the final conflagra- 
tion." 1 By it the city of London proper was reduced to ruins, 
little more being left than a fringe of houses on the northeast. 2 

The members of the Cabal gloated over the destruction, believ- 
ing that now that London was destroyed, the king, with the aid of 
his army, might easily crush out political liberty. But selfish as 
Charles and his brother James unquestionably were, they were 
better than the Cabal; for both worked heroically to stop the 
flames, and gave liberally to feed and shelter the multitudes who 
had lost everything. 

Great as the calamity was, yet from a sanitary point of view it 
did great good. Nothing short of fire could have effectually 
cleansed the London of that day, and so put a stop to the period- 
ical ravages of the plague. By sweeping away miles of narrow 
streets crowded with miserable buildings black with the encrusted 
filth of ages, the conflagration in the end proved friendly to health 
and life. 

A monument near London Bridge still marks the spot where 
the flames first burst out. For many years it bore an inscription 
affirming that the Catholics kindled them in order to be revenged 
on their persecutors. The poet Pope, at a later period, exposed 
the falsehood in the lines : — 

" Where London's column pointing towards the skies 
Like a tall bully lifts its head and lies." 3 

1 Evelyn's Diary, 1641-1705, also compare Dryden's Poem, Annus Mirabilis. 

2 See Map in Loftie's London, Vol. I. See also Paragraph No. 64, note 2. 
8 Moral Essays, Epistle iii. 



264 LEADING FACTS OF ENGLISH HISTORY. 

Sir Christopher Wren, the most famous architect of the period, 
rebuilt the city. The greater part of it had been of wood, but it 
rose from the ashes brick and stone. One irreparable loss was 
the old Gothic church of St. Paul. Wren erected the present 
cathedral on the foundations of the ancient structure. He lies 
buried under the grand dome of his own grandest work. On a 
tablet near the tomb of the great master-builder one reads the 
inscription in Latin, " Reader, if you seek his monument, look 
around." 1 

527. Invasion by the Dutch. — The new city had not risen from 
the ruins of the old, when a third calamity overtook it. Charles 
was at war with Holland. The contest originally grew out of the 
rivalry of the two countries in their efforts to get the exclusive 
possession of foreign trade. Parliament granted the king large 
sums of money to build and equip a navy, but the pleasure-loving 
monarch wasted it in dissipation. The few ships he had were 
rotten old hulks, but half provisioned, with crews ready to mutiny 
because they could not get their pay. A Dutch fleet, manned in 
part by English sailors who had deserted in disgust, because when 
they asked for dollars to support their families they got only 
worthless government tickets, now sailed up the Thames. There 
was no force to oppose them. They burnt some half-built men-of- 
war, threatened to blockade London, and made their own terms 
of peace. 

528. Treaty of Dover; the King robs the Exchequer. — But 

another and still deeper disgrace was at hand. The chief ambi- 
tion of Charles was to rule without a Parliament ; without supplies 
of money he found this impossible. A way to accomplish the 
desired end now presented itself. 

Louis XIV. of France, then the most powerful monarch in 
Europe, wished to conquer Holland, with the double object of 
extending his own kingdom and the power of Romanism. He 

1 " Lector, si monumentum requiris, circumspice." 



DIVINE RIGHT OF KINGS AND PEOPLE. 265 

saw in Charles the tool he wanted to gain this end. By the secret 
treaty of Dover, Louis bribed the English king with a gift of 
^300,000 to help him carry out his scheme. Thus, without the 
knowledge of Parliament, Charles deliberately sold himself to the 
French sovereign in his plot to destroy the political liberty and 
Protestant faith of Holland. In addition to the above sum, it was 
furthermore agreed that Louis should pay Charles a pension of 
^200,000 a year from the date when the latter should openly 
avow himself a Catholic. 

True to his infamous contract, Charles provoked a new war with 
the Dutch, but found that he needed more money to prosecute it 
successfully. Not knowing where to borrow, he determined to 
steal it. Various prominent London merchants and bankers had 
lent to the government large sums on promise of repayment from 
the taxes. A part of the revenue amounting to about ^1,300,- 
000, a sum equal to at least $10,000,000 now, had been deposited 
in the exchequer, or government treasury, to meet the obligation. 
The king seized this money, 1 partly for his needs, but chiefly for 
his vices. This act of treachery caused a financial panic which 
shook London to its foundations and ruined great numbers of 
people. 

* 
(iJ/529. More Money Schemes. — By declaring war against Hol- 
land, Charles had now fulfilled the first part of his secret treaty 
with Louis, but he was afraid to undertake the second part and 
openly declare himself a convert to the Church of Rome. He, 
however, did the next thing to it, by issuing a proclamation of in- 
dulgence to all religions, under cover of which he intended to 
show especial favor to the Catholics. 

To offset this proclamation, Parliament at once passed a law 
requiring every government officer to acknowledge himself a Prot- 
estant. Charles became alarmed at this decided stand, and now 
tried to conciliate Parliament, and coax from them another grant 

1 '\' Rob me the exchequer, Hal,' said the king to his favorite minister ; then ' all 
went merry as a marriage bell.' " Evelyn's Diary, 10 Oct., 1671. 



266 LEADING FACTS OF ENGLISH HISTORY. 

of money by marrying his niece, the Princess Mary, to William of 
Orange, president of the Dutch republic, and head of the Protes- 
tant party on the continent. 

530. The " Popish Plot." — While the king was playing this 
double part, an infamous scoundrel, named Titus Oates, whose 
hideous face was but the counterpart of a still more hideous char- 
acter, pretended that he had discovered a terrible plot. Accord- 
ing to his account, the Catholics had formed a conspiracy to burn 
London, massacre the inhabitants, kill the king, and restore the 
religion of Rome. The news of this alleged discovery caused an 
excitement which soon grew into a sort of popular madness. The 
memory of the great fire was still fresh in people's minds. In 
their imagination they now saw those scenes of horror repeated, 
with wholesale murder added. Great numbers of innocent per- 
sons were thrown into prison, and many executed. As time went 
on, the terror seemed to increase. With its increase, Oates grew 
bolder in his accusations. Chief-Justice Scroggs showed himself 
an eager abettor of the miserable wretch who swore away men's 
lives for the sake of the notoriety it gave him. In the extrava- 
gance of his presumption Oates dared even to accuse the queen 
of an attempt to poison Charles. The craze, however, had at last 
begun to abate somewhat, and no action was taken. 

An attempt was now made to pass a law called the " Exclusion 
Bill," debarring Charles's brother James, the Catholic Duke of 
York, from succeeding to the crown; but though voted by the 
Commons, it was defeated by the Lords. A second measure, 
however, received the sanction of both Houses, by which Catho- 
lics were declared incapable of sitting in Parliament ; and from 
this date they remained shut out from all legislative power and 
from all civil and corporate offices for a period of over a century 
and a half. 

531. Political Parties. — It was about this time that the names 
" Whig " and " Tory " began to be given to two political parties, 
which soon became very powerful, and which have ever since 



DIVINE RIGHT OF KINGS AND PEOPLE. 267 

divided the Parliamentary government of the country betweeD 
them. 

The term " Whig " was originally given by way of reproach to 
the Scotch Puritans, or Covenanters, who refused to accept the 
Episcopacy which Charles I. endeavored to impose upon them. 1 
" Tory," on the other hand, was a nickname which appears to have 
first been applied to the Roman Catholic outlaws of Ireland, who 
were regarded as both robbers and rebels. 

This latter name was now given to those who supported the 
claims of the king's brother James, the Roman Catholic Duke of 
York, as successor to the throne ; while that of Whig was borne by 
those who were endeavoring to exclude him, and secure a Protes- 
tant successor. 2 The excitement over this question threatened at 
one period to bring on another civil war. In his fury against the 
Whigs, Charles revoked the charters of London and many other 
cities, which were re-granted only on terms agreeable to the Tories. 
An actual outbreak against the government would probably have 
occurred had it not been for the discovery of a new conspiracy, 
which resulted in a reaction favorable to the crown. 

532. The Rye House Plot. — This conspiracy, known as the 
" Rye House Plot," had for its object the murder of Charles and 
his brother James at a place called the Rye House, in Hertford- 
shire, not far from London. It was concocted by a number of 
violent Whigs, who, in their disappointment respecting the passage 
of the Exclusion Bill, took this method of securing their ends. 

It is said that they intended placing on the throne James, 
Duke of Monmouth, a natural son of Charles, who was popularly 

1 See Paragraph No. 490. 

2 Politically, the Whigs and Tories may perhaps be considered as the succes- 
sors of the Roundheads and Cavaliers of the civil war, the former seeking to limit 
the power of the crown ; the latter, to extend it. At the Restoration (1660), the 
Cavaliers were all-powerful ; but at the time of the dispute on the Exclusion Bill 
(1679), the Roundhead, or Peoples' party had revived. On account of their peti- 
tioning the king to summon a new Parliament, by means of which they hoped to 
carry the bill shutting out the Duke of York from the throne, they were called 
" Petitioners," and later, Whigs ; while those who expressed their abhorrence of their 
efforts were called " Abhorrers," and after wa rd, Tories. 



268 LEADING FACTS OP ENGLISH HISTORY. 

known as the " Protestant Duke." Algernon Sidney, Lord Rus- 
sell, and the Earl of Essex, who were prominent advocates of the 
bill, were arrested for participating in the plot. Essex committed 
suicide in the Tower ; Sidney and Russell were tried, convicted, 
and sentenced to death on insufficient evidence. Both were un- 
questionably innocent. They died martyrs to the cause of liberty, 
— Russell, with the fortitude of a Christian ; Sidney, with the 
calmness of a philosopher. The Duke of Monmouth, who was 
supposed to be implicated in the plot, was banished to Holland. 

533. The Royal Society. — During this reign the Royal 
Society, for the discussion of scientific questions, was organized. 
In an age when thousands of well-informed people still cherished 
a lingering belief that lead might be changed into gold ; that some 
medicine might be discovered which would cure every disease, 
and prevent old age, that worst disease of all ; when every cross- 
grained old woman was suspected of witchcraft, and was liable to 
be tortured and hanged on that suspicion ; the formation of an 
association to study physical facts was most significant. It showed 
that the time had come when, instead of guessing what might be, 
men were at last beginning to resolve to know what actually is. 
Under the encouragement given by this society, an English mathe- 
matician and philosopher published a work which demonstrated 
the unity of the universe, by proving that the same law governs the 
falling of an apple and the movements of the planets in their 
orbits. It was with reference to that wonderful discovery of the 
all-pervading power of gravitation, which shapes and holds in 
its control the drop of dew before our eyes, and the farthest 
star shining in the heavens, that the poet Pope suggested the 
epitaph which should be graven on the tomb in Westminster 
Abbey : — 

"Nature and Nature's laws lay hid in night; 
God said, ' Let Newton be ! ' and all was light." 

534. Chief Political Reforms. — As the age did not stand still 
with respect to progress in knowledge, so it was not wholly unsuc- 



DIVINE RIGHT OF KINGS AND PEOPLE. 269 

cessful in attempts at political reform. The chief measures were, 
first, the Habeas Corpus Act, 1 which provided that no subject 
should be detained in prison except by due process of law, thus 
putting an end to the arbitrary confinement of men for months, 
and years even, without conviction of guilt or even form of trial. 
The next reform was the abolition of the king's right to feudal 
dues and service, by which he was accustomed to extort as much 
as possible from his subjects, 2 and the substitution of a fixed yearly 
allowance, raised by tax, of ;£i,20o,ooo. 3 This change may be 
considered to have practically abolished the feudal system in Eng- 
land, so far as the crown is concerned, though the law still re- 
tains many remnants of it with respect to the relation of land- 
lord and tenant. 

^o35. Death of Charles. — In 1685 the reign came suddenly to 
an end. Evelyn tells us in his Diary that he was present at the 
royal court at the Palace of Whitehall on Sunday morning, the last 
of January of that year. There he saw the king sitting in the grand 
banqueting-room, chatting gayly with three famous court beauties, 
" while a crowd of richly dressed nobles were gathered around a 
gambling- table heaped with gold. Six days after," as he expresses 
it, "all was in the dust." Charles died a Roman Catholic, his 
brother James having smuggled a priest into his chamber in time 
to hear his confession and grant him absolution. Certainly few 
English rulers have stood in greater need of both. 

^36. Summary. — The chief events of the period were the 
persecution of the Puritans, the Plague and Fire of London, the 
" Popish " and Rye House Plots, and the Dutch Wars. Aside from 

1 Habeas Corpus ad subjiciendum (1679) {that you have the body to answer) : 
this writ is addressed by the judge to him who detains another in custody, com- 
manding him to bring him into court and show why he is restrained of his liberty. 

2 See Paragraph No. 200. See also Blackstone's Commentaries, II. 76. 

3 This tax should have been levied on the landed proprietors who had been 
subject to the feudal dues, but they evaded it, and by getting it assessed as an excise 
duty on beer and spirits, they compelled the body of the people to bear the Durden 
for them. 



270 LEADING FACTS OF ENGLISH HISTORY. 

these, the reign presents two leading points :- 1. The policy of the 
king; 2. That of the nation. Charles, as we have seen, lived 
solely to gratify his inordinate love of pleasure. For that, he 
wasted the revenue, robbed the exchequer, and cheated the navy ; 
for that, he secretly sold himself to France, made war on Holland, 
and shamefully deceived both Parliament and people. In so far, 
then, as Charles had an object, it began and ended with himself. 
Therein, he stood lower than his father, who at least conscien- 
tiously believed in the Divine Right of kings and their accounta- 
bility to the Almighty. 

The policy of the nation, on the other hand, was divided. The 
Whigs were determined to limit the power of the crown, and 
secure at all hazards a Protestant successor. The Tories were 
equally resolved to check the growing power of the people, and 
preserve the hereditary order of succession without any immediate 
regard to the religious question. Beneath these issues both parties 
had a common object, which was to maintain the national Episco- 
pal church, and the monarchical system of government, preferring 
rather to cherish patriotism through loyalty to a personal sovereign, 
than patriotism alone through devotion to a democratic republic. 

JAMES II. — 1685-1689. 

537. Accession of James II. ; his Two Objects ; Oates gets his 
Deserts. — James, Duke of York, brother of the late king, now 
came to the throne. His first great ambition was to rule inde- 
pendently of Parliament ; in other words, to have his own way in 
everything; his second, which was, if possible, still nearer his 
heart, was to restore the Roman Catholic religion in England. 
He began that restoration at once ; and on the Easter Sunday 
preceding his coronation, " the worship of the church of Rome 
was once more, after an interval of a hundred and twenty-seven 
years, performed at Westminster with royal splendor." 1 

Not long after, James had the miscreant Oates brought to trial 

l Macaulay's England. 



DIVINE RIGHT OF KINGS AND PEOPLE. 2/1 

for the perjuries he had committed in connection with Ihe " Popish 
Plot." He was found guilty, and the community had the satisfac- 
tion of seeing him publicly whipped through London with such 
terrible severity that " the blood ran in rivulets," and a few more 
strokes of the lash would have ended his worthless life. 

538. Monmouth's Rebellion; Sedgemoor. — At the time of the 
discovery of the Rye House Plot, a number of Whigs who were 
implicated in the conspiracy fled to Holland, where the Duke of 
Monmouth had also gone when banished. Four months after the 
accession of James, the duke, aided by these refugees and by a small 
force which he had gathered in the Low Countries, resolved to in- 
vade England and demand the crown, in the belief that a large part 
of the nation would look upon him as representing the cause of 
Protestantism, and would therefore rally to his support. He landed 
at Lyme on the coast of Dorsetshire, and there issued an absurd 
proclamation declaring James to be a usurper, tyrant, and mur- 
derer, who had set the great fire of London, cut the throat of 
Essex, 1 and poisoned Charles II. ! At Taunton, in Somersetshire, a 
procession of welcome headed by a lady carrying a Bible met the 
duke, and presented him with the book in behalf of the Protestant 
faith. He received it, saying, " I come to defend the truths con- 
tained in this volume, and to seal them, if it must be so, with my 
blood." Shortly after, he proclaimed himself sovereign of Great 
Britain under the title of King Monmouth. Many of the country 
people now joined him, but the Whig nobles, on whose help he 
had counted, stood aloof, alienated doubtless by the ridiculous 
charges he had made against James. 

At the battle of Sedgemoor, in Somersetshire (1685), "King 
Monmouth," with his hastily gathered forces, was utterly routed, 
and he himself was soon after captured hiding in a ditch. He 
desired to be taken to the king. His request was granted. When 
he entered his uncle's presence, he threw himself down and crawled 
to his feet, weeping and begging piteously for life — only life — 

1 See Paragraph No. 532. 



2^2 LEADING FACTS OF ENGLISH HISTORY. 

on any terms, however hard. He denied that he had issued the 
lying proclamation published at Lyme ; he denied that he had 
sought the crown of his own free will ; finally, in an agony of sup- 
plication, he hinted that he would even renounce Protestantism if 
thereby he might escape death. James told him that he should 
have the service of a Catholic priest, but would promise nothing 
more. Monmouth grovelled and pleaded, but the king turned 
away in silence. Then the duke, seeing that all his efforts were 
vain, rose to his feet and regained his manhood. He was forthwith 
sent to the Tower, and shortly after to execution. His headless 
body was buried under the communion-table of that little chapel 
of St. Peter within the Tower grounds, where the remains of Anne 
Boleyn, Lady Jane Grey, Sir Thomas More, and many other 
royal victims are gathered, and cf which, it has been well said, that 
no sadder spot exists on earth, " since there death is associated 
with whatever is darkest in human nature and human destiny." l 

After Monmouth's death there were no further attempts at 
insurrection, and the struggle at Sedge moor remains the last 
encounter worthy of the name of battle fought on English soil. 

539. The Bloody Assizes. — The defeat of the insurgents who 
had rallied under Monmouth's flag was followed by a series of 
trials known, from their results, as the " Bloody Assizes." 2 They 
were conducted by Judge Jeffreys, assisted by a band of soldiers 
under Colonel Kirke, ironically called, from their ferocity, " Kirke's 
Lambs." But of the two, Jeffreys was the more to be dreaded. - He 
was by nature cruel, and enjoyed the spectacle of mental as well as 
bodily anguish. As he himself said, he delighted to give those who 
had the misfortune to appear before him " a lick with the rough side 
of his tongue," preparatory to roaring out the sentence of torture 
or death, in which he delighted still more. All who were in the 
remotest way implicated in the late rising were now hunted 

1 Macaulay's England. 

2 Assizes (from the French asseoir, to sit or set) : sessions of a court; alsoTrsed 
in the singular, of a decree or law. 



DIVINE RIGHT OF KINGS AND PEOPLE. 273 

down and brought to a trial which was but a mockery of justice. 
No one was permitted to defend himself. In fact, defence would 
have been useless against the blind fury of such a judge. The 
threshold of the court was to most that crossed it the threshold 
of the grave. A gentleman present at one of these scenes of 
slaughter, touched with pity at the condition of a trembling old 
man called up for sentence, ventured to put in a word in his 
behalf. " My Lord," said he to Jeffreys, " this poor creature is 
dependent on the parish." "Don't trouble yourself," cried the 
judge ; " I will soon ease the parish of the burden," and ordered 
the officers to execute him at once. Those who escaped death 
were often still more to be pitied. A young man was sentenced 
to be imprisoned for seven years, and to be whipped once a year 
through every market town in the county. In his despair, he 
petitioned the king to grant him the favor of being hanged. The 
petition was refused, but a partial remission of the punishment 
was at length gained by bribing the court ; for Jeffreys, though his 
heart was shut against mercy, always had his pockets open for 
gain. Alice Lisle, an aged woman, who, out of pity, had con- 
cealed two men flying from the king's vengeance, was condemned 
to be burned alive ; and it was with the greatest difficulty that the 
clergy of Winchester Cathedral succeeded in getting the sentence 
commuted to beheading. 

As the work went on, the spirits of Jeffreys rose higher and 
higher. He laughed, shouted, joked, and swore like a drunken 
man. When the court had finished its sittings, more than a thou- 
sand persons had been brutally scourged, sold as slaves, hanged, or 
beheaded. The guide-posts of the highways were converted into 
gibbets, from which blackened corpses swung in chains, and from 
every church-tower in Somersetshire ghastly heads looked down 
on those who gathered there to worship God ; in fact, so many 
bodies were exposed, that the whole air was " tainted with corrup- 
tion and death." 

Not satisfied with vengeance alone, Jeffreys and his friends 
made these trials a means of speculation. Batches of rebels were 



274 LEADING FACTS OF ENGLISH HISTORY. 

given as presents to courtiers, who sold them to be worked and 
flogged to death on West India plantations; and the queen's 
maids of honor extorted large sums of money for the pardon of a 
number of country school-girls who had been convicted of pre- 
senting Monmouth with a royal flag at Taunton. On the return of 
Jeffreys to London after this carnival of blood, his father was so 
horrified at his cruelty that he forbade him to enter his house. 
James, on the contrary, testified his approval by making Jeffreys 
lord chancellor of the realm, at the same time mildly censuring 
him for not having shown greater severity ! The new lord chan- 
cellor testified his gratitude to his royal master by procuring the 
murder, by means of a packed jury, of Alderman Cornish, a promi- 
nent London Whig, who was especially hated by the king on account 
of his support of that Exclusion Bill which was intended to shut 
James out from the throne. On the same day on which Cornish 
was executed, Jeffreys also had the satisfaction of having Elizabeth 
Gaunt burned alive at Tyburn for having assisted one of the Rye 
House conspirators to escape who had fought for Monmouth at 
Sedgemoor. 

540. The King makes Further Attempts to re-establish 
Catholicism ; Declaration of Indulgence ; Oxford. — An event 
occurred about this time which encouraged James to make a more 
decided attempt to restore Catholicism. In 1598 Henry IV. of 
France granted the Protestants of his kingdom liberty of worship, 
by the Edict of Nantes. In 1685 Louis XIV. deliberately revoked 
it. By that short-sighted act the Huguenots, or French Protes- 
tants, were exposed to cruel persecution, and thousands of them 
fled to England and America. James now resolved to profit by 
the example set him by Louis, and if not like the French mon- 
arch to drive the Protestants out of Great Britain, at least to restore 
the country to its allegiance to Rome. He began, contrary to law, 
by putting Catholics into important offices in both church and 
state. 2 He furthermore established an army of 13,000 men 

1 Nantes (Nantz). 2 See Paragraph No. 530. 



DIVINE RIGHT OF KINGS AND PEOPLE. 275 

on Hounslow Heath, just outside London, to hold the city in sub- 
jection in case there should be a disposition to rebel. He next 
recalled the Protestant Duke of Ormond, governor of Ireland, and 
in his place as lord deputy, sent Talbot, Earl of Tyrconnel, a 
Catholic of notoriously bad character. Tyrconnel had orders to 
recruit an Irish Roman Catholic army to aid the king in carrying 
out his designs. He raised some soldiers, but he also raised that 
famous song of " Lilli Burlero," by which, as its author boasted, 
James was eventually "sung out of his kingdom." 1 Having, 
meanwhile, got the courts completely under his control through 
the appointment of judges in sympathy with Jeffreys and with him- 
self, the king issued a Declaration of Indulgence, suspending all 
penal laws against both Roman Catholics on the one hand, and 
Protestant Dissenters on the other. The latter, however, suspect- 
ing that this apparently liberal measure was simply a trick to 
establish Catholicism, refused to avail themselves of it, and de- 
nounced it as an open violation of the Constitution. 

James next proceeded, by means of the tyrannical High Com- 
mission Court, which he had revived, 2 to bring the chief college at 
Oxford under Catholic control. The president of Magdalen Col- 
lege having died, the Fellows were considering the choice of a 
successor. The king ordered them to elect a Catholic, and 
named at first a man of ill repute. The Fellows refused to 
obey, and elected a Protestant. James ejected the new presi- 

1 Lord Wharton, a prominent English Whig, was the author of this satirical 
political ballad, which, it is said, was sung and whistled from one end of England 
to the other, in derision of the king's policy. It undoubtedly had a powerful pop- 
ular influence in bringing on the Revolution of 1688. 

The ballad began : — 

" Ho, Brother Teague, dost hear de decree ? 
Lilli Burlero, bullen a-la, 
Dat we shall have a new deputie, 
Lilli Burlero, bullen a-la." 

The refrain, "Lilli Burlero," etc. (also written " Lillibullero "), is said to have 
been the watchword used by the Irish Catholics when they rose against the Prot- 
estants of Ulster in 1641. See Wilkins's Political Songs, Vol. I. 

2 See Paragraph No. 491. 



2^6 LEADING FACTS OF ENGLISH HISTORY. 

dent, and drove out the Fellows, leaving them to depend on the 
"charity of the neighboring country gentlemen for their support. 
But the king, in attacking the rights of the college, had " run his 
head against a wall," 1 as he soon discovered to his sorrow. His 
temporary success, however, emboldened him to issue a second 
Declaration of Indulgence, of which the real object, like that of 
the first, was to put Roman Catholics into still higher positions of 
trust and power. 

541. The Petition of the Seven Bishops. — He commanded 
the clergy throughout the realm to read this declaration on a 
given Sunday from their pulpits. The Archbishop of Canterbury, 
accompanied by six bishops, petitioned the king to be excused 
from reading it in their churches. The king refused to consider 
the petition. When the day came, hardly a clergyman read the 
paper, and in the few cases in which they did, the congregation 
rose and left rather than listen to it. 

Furious at such an unexpected result, James ordered the refrac- 
tory bishops to be sent to the Tower. The whole country now 
seemed to turn against the king. By his obstinate folly James 
had succeeded in making enemies of all classes, not only of the 
Whig Roundheads who had fought against his father in the civil 
war, but also of the Tory Cavaliers who had fought for him. One 
of the imprisoned bishops was Trelawney of Bristol. He was a 
native of Cornwall. The news of his incarceration roused the 
rough, independent, population of that county. From one end 
of it to the other the people were now heard singing: — 

"And shall Trelawney die, and shall Trelawney die? 
There's thirty thousand Cornishmen will know the reason why." 

Then the miners took up the words, and beneath the hills and 
fields the ominous echo was heard : — ■ 

1 " What building is that ? " asked the Duke of Wellington of his companion, 
Mr. Croker, pointing, as he spoke, to Magdalen College wall, just as they entered 
the city in 1834. " That is the wall which James II. ran his head against," was the 
reply. 



DIVINE RIGHT OF KINGS AND PEOPLE. 2?7 

"And shall Trelawney die, and shall Trelawney die? 
There's twenty thousand underground will know the reason why." 

On their trial the popular feeling in favor of the bishops was so 
strong that not even James's servile judges dared to openly use 
their influence to convict them. When the case was given to the 
jury, it is said that the largest and most robust man of the twelve 
rose and said to the rest : " Look at me ! I am bigger than any 
of you, but before I will bring in a verdict of guilty, I will stay 
here until I am no thicker than a tobacco-pipe." That decided 
the matter, and the bishops were acquitted. The news was 
received in London like the tidings of some great victory, with 
shouts of joy, illuminations, and bonfires. 

\P 

542. Birth of a Prince ; Invitation to William of Orange. — 

But just before the acquittal an event took place which changed 
everything and brought on the memorable Revolution of 1688. 

Up to this time the succession to the throne after James rested 
with his two daughters, — Mary, who had married William, Prince 
of Orange, 1 and resided in Holland ; and her younger sister Anne, 
who had married George, Prince of Denmark, and was then living 
in London. Both of the daughters were zealous Protestants, and 
the expectation that one of them would ascend the English throne 
on the king's death had kept the people comparatively quiet 
under the efforts of James to restore Catholicism. But while the 
bishops were in prison awaiting trial the alarming intelligence 
was spread that a son had been born to the king. If true, 
he would now be the next heir to the crown, and would in all 
probability be educated and come to power a Catholic. This 
prospect brought matters to a crisis. Great numbers of the 
people, especially the Whigs, believed the whole matter an 
imposition, and it was commonly reported that the pretended 
prince was not the true son of the king and queen, but a child 
that had been smuggled into the palace to deceive the nation. 

On the very day that the bishops were set at liberty, seven of 

1 Mary : see Paragraph No. 529. 



278 LEADING FACTS OF ENGLISH HISTORY. 

the leading nobility and gentry, representing both political parties, 
seconded by the city of London, sent a secret invitation to 
William, Prince of Orange, urging him to come over with an 
army to defend his wife Mary's claim to the English throne 
and to protect the liberty of the English people. 

William, after due consideration, decided to accept the invita- 
tion, which was probably not unexpected on his part. He was 
confirmed in his decision not only by the cordial approval of the 
leading Catholic princes of Europe,* but also by the Pope himself, 
who had more than once expressed his emphatic disgust at 
the foolish rashness of King James. 1 

543. The Coming of William, and Flight of James. — William 
landed with 14,000 troops. It was the fifth and last great land- 
ing in the history of England. 2 He declared that he came 
in Mary's interest and that of the English nation, to secure a 
free and legal Parliament which should decide the question of 
the succession. James endeavored to rally a force to resist him, 
but Lord John Churchill, afterward Duke of Marlborough, and 
the king's son-in-law, Prince George, both secretly went over to 
William's side. His troops likewise deserted, and finally even his 
daughter Anne went over to the enemy. " Now God help me ! " 
exclaimed James, in despair, " for my own children forsake me ! " 
The queen had already fled to France, taking with her her infant 
son, the unfortunate James Edward, whose birth had caused the 
revolution, and who, instead of a kingdom, inherited nothing but 
the nickname of " Pretender," which he in turn transmitted to his 
son. 3 King James soon followed his wife. 

As he crossed the Thames in a boat by night, James threw the 
great seal of state into the river, in the vain hope that without it a 

1 Guizot, Histoire de Charles I. (Discours sur l'Histoire de la Revolution). 

2 The first being that of the Romans, the next that of the Saxons, the third that of 
St. Augustine, the fourth that of William the Conqueror, the fifth that of the Prince 
of Orange. 

3 Prince James Edward Stuart, the " Old Pretender," and his son Prince Charles 
Edward Stuart, the " Young Pretender." * Except, of course, Louis XIV. 



DIVINE RIGHT OF KINGS AND PEOPLE. 279 

Parliament could not be legally summoned to decide the question 
which his adversary had raised. The king got as far as the coast, 
but was discovered by some fishermen and brought back. William 
reluctantly received him, and purposely allowed him to escape a 
second time. He now reached France, and found generous wel- 
come and support from Louis XIV., at the court of Versailles. 1 
There could be now no reasonable doubt that James's daughter 
Mary would receive the English crown. 

^544. Character of the Revolution of 1688. — Never was a 
revolution of such magnitude and meaning accomplished so 
peacefully. Not a drop of blood had been shed. There was 
hardly any excitement or uproar. Even the bronze statue of the 
runaway king was permitted to stand undisturbed in the rear of 
the palace of Whitehall, where it remains to this day. 

The great change had taken place thus quietly because men's 
minds were ripe for it. England had entered upon another period 
of history, in which old institutions, laws and customs were pass- 
ing away and all was becoming new. 

Feudalism had vanished under Charles II., 2 but political and 
religious persecution had continued. In future, however, we shall 
hear no more of the revocation of city charters or of other punish- 
ments inflicted because of political opinion, 3 and rarely of any 
punishment for religious dissent. . Courts of justice will undergo 
reform, and will no longer be "little better than caverns of 
murderers," 4 where judges like Scroggs and Jeffreys browbeat 
the prisoners, took their guilt for granted, insulted and silenced 
witnesses for their defence, and even cast juries into prison under 
penalties of heavy fines, for venturing to bring in verdicts con- 
trary to their wishes. 5 

1 For the king's life at Versailles, see Doran's Monarchs retired from Business. 

2 See Paragraph No. 534. 

8 See Paragraph No. 531 and No. 539, the Cornish case. 

4 Hallam's Constitutional History of England. 

6 See Hallam, and also introduction to Professor Adams' Manual of Historical 
Literature. For a graphic picture of the times, read, in Bunyan's Pilgrim's Pro- 
gress, Christian's trial before Lord Hategood. 



280 LEADING FACTS OF ENGLISH HISTORY. 

The day, too, had gone by when an English sovereign could 
cast his subjects into fetid dungeons in the Tower and leave them 
to die there of lingering disease, in darkness, solitude, and despair; 
or, like James, sit in the court-room at Edinburgh, and watch 
with curious delight the agony of the application of the Scotch 
instruments of torture, the " boot," and the thumbscrew. 

For the future, thought and discussion in England were to be in 
great measure free, as in time they would be wholly so, and per- 
haps the coward king's heaviest retribution in his secure retreat 
beyond the sea was the knowledge that all his efforts to prevent 
the coming of this liberty had absolutely failed. 

545. Summary. — The reign of James must be regarded as 
mainly taken up with the attempt of the king to rule indepen- 
dently of Parliament and law, and to restore the Roman Catholic 
religion. Monmouth's rebellion, though without real justification, 
since he could not legitimately claim the crown, was a forerunner 
of that revolution which invited William of Orange to support 
Parliament in placing a Protestant sovereign on the throne. 

WILLIAM AND MARY (House of Orange-Stuart).— 1689-1702. 

546. The Convention; the Declaration of Right. — After 
the flight of James II., a Convention which was practically a Par- 
liament * met, and declared that James having broken " the orig- 
nal contract between king and people," the throne was therefore 
vacant. During the interregnum, 2 which lasted but a few weeks, 
the Convention issued a formal statement of principles under the 
name of the Declaration of Right (1689) . That document recited 
the illegal and arbitrary acts of the late king, proclaimed him no 
longer sovereign, and resolved that the crown should be tendered 
to William and Mary. 3 The Declaration having been read to 

1 See Paragraph No. 517, and also " Great Seal," Paragraph No. 543. 

2 Interregnum {inter, between, and regnum, a king or reign). The Convention 
met Jan. 22, 1689 ; William and Mary accepted the crown Feb. 13. 

3 William of Orange stood next in order of succession to Mary and Anne (pro- 
viding the claim of the newly born Prince James, the Pretender, was set aside). 
See Table, Paragraph No. 581. 



DIVINE RIGHT OF KINGS AND PEOPLE. 28 1 

them and having received their assent, they were formally invited 
to accept the joint sovereignty of the realm, with the understanding 
that the actual administration should be vested in William alone. 

547. Jacobites and Non-jurors. — At the accession of the 
new sovereigns the extreme Tories, 1 who believed the action 
of the Convention unconstitutional, continued to adhere to 
James II. as their lawful king. Henceforth this class became 
known as Jacobites, from Jacobus, the Latin name for James. 
They were especially numerous and determined in the Highlands 
of Scotland and the South of Ireland. Though they made no 
open resistance at this time, yet they kept up a secret corre- 
spondence with the refugee monarch and were constantly plotting 
for his restoration. About four hundred of the clergy of the 
Church of England, including the Archbishop of Canterbury and 
four more of the famous "Seven Bishops," 2 with some members of 
the universities and also some Scotch Presbyterians, refused to take 
the oath of allegiance to William and Mary. They became known 
on this account as the Non-jurors, 8 and although they were never 
harshly treated, they were compelled to resign their positions. 

r 548. The Mutiny and Toleration Acts. — We have seen that 
cne of the chief means of despotism on which James II. relied 
was the organization of a powerful standing army such as was 
unknown in England until Cromwell was compelled to rule by 
military force, but which Charles II. had perpetuated, though 
in such greatly diminished numbers that the body was no longer 
formidable. But it was now evident that owing to the abolition 
of the feudal levies 4 such an army must be maintained at the 
king's command, especially as war was impending with Louis XIV., 
who threatened by force of arms and with the help of the Jacob- 
ites to restore James to the English throne. To prevent the 

1 Tories : see Paragraph No. 531. 

2 See Paragraph No. 541. 

3 Non-juror from non, not, and jurare, to make oath. 

4 See Paragraphs Nos. 534 and 200. 



282 LEADING FACTS OF ENGLISH HISTORY. 

sovereign from making bad use of such a power, Parliament 
now passed a law called the Mutiny Act, which practically put 
the army under the control of the nation, 1 as it has since 
remained. Thus all danger from that source was taken away. 
James's next method for bringing the country under the 
control of Rome had been to issue spurious measures of tol- 
eration granting freedom to all religious beliefs, in order that 
he might thereby place Catholics in power. As an offset to this 
measure, Parliament now enacted a statute of toleration which 
secured freedom of worship to all religious believers except 
" Papists and such as deny the Trinity." This measure, though 
one-sided and utterly inconsistent with the broader and juster 
ideas of toleration which have since prevailed, was nevertheless 
a most important reform, and put an end at once and forever 
to the persecution which had disgraced the reigns of the Stuarts, 
though unfortunately it still left the Catholics and the Unitarians 
subject to the heavy hand of tyrannical oppression. 2 

549. The Bill of Rights (1689) and Act of Settlement (1701). 
— Not many months later, Parliament embodied the Declaration of 
Right, with some slight changes, in the Bill of Rights, which received 
the signature of the king and became a law. It constitutes the 
third and last great step which England has taken in constitution- 
making— the first being the Great Charter of 12 15, and the 
second the Petition of Right of 1628. 3 As the Habeas Corpus 
Act was contained, in germ at least, in Magna Carta, 4 these 
three measures sum up the written safeguards of the nation, and 
constitute, as Lord Chatham, said, " the Bible of English Liberty" 

1 The Mutiny Act provides: i. That the standing army shall be at the king's 
command — subject to certain rules — for one year only; 2. That ho pay shall be 
issued to troops except by special act of Parliament ; 3. That no act of mutiny can 
be punished except by the annual re-enactment of the Mutiny Bill. 

2 In 1663 Charles II. granted a charter to Rhode Island which secured religious 
liberty to that colony. It was the first royal charter recognizing the principle oi 
toleration. 

3 See Paragraph No. 484. 

4 See Paragraph No. 313 (3). 



DIVINE RIGHT OF KINGS AND PEOPLE. 283 

With the passage of the Bill of Rights, 1 the doctrine of the 
Divine Right of kings to govern without being accountable to 
their subjects, which James I. and his descendants had tried so 
hard to reduce to practice, came to an end forever. The chief 
provisions of the bill were: i. That the king should not main- 
tain a standing army in time of peace, except by consent of Par- 
liament; 2. That no money should be taken from the people 
save by the consent of Parliament; 3. That every subject has 
the right to petition the crown for the redress of any grievance ; 
4. That the election of members of Parliament ought to be free 
from interference; 5. That Parliament should frequently assem- 
ble and enjoy entire freedom of debate; 6. That the king be 
debarred from interfering in any way with the proper execution 
of the laws ; 7. That a Roman Catholic or a person marrying 
a Roman Catholic be henceforth incapable of receiving the crown 
of England. Late in the reign (1701) Parliament reaffirmed and 
still further extended the provisions of the Bill of Rights by the 
Act of Settlement, which established a new royal line of Protestant 
sovereigns. 2 This law practically abolished the principle of heredi- 
tary succession and re-established in the clearest and most decided 
manner the right of the nation to choose its own rulers. Accord- 
ing to that measure, "an English sovereign is now as much the 
creature of an act of Parliament as the pettiest tax-gatherer in 
his realm ; " 3 and he is dependent for his office and power on 
the will of the people as really, though of course not as directly, 
as the President of the United States. 



1 For full text of the bill, see Taswell-Langmead's Constitutional History of 
England. 

2 The Act of Settlement provided that after Princess Anne (in default of issue 
by William or Anne) the crown should descend to the Electress Sophia of Han- 
over, Germany, and her Protestant descendants. The Electress Sophia was the 
granddaughter of James I. She married Ernest Augustus, Elector (or ruler) of 
Hanover. As Hallam says, she was " very far removed from any hereditary title,"* 
as aside from James II.'s son, whose legitimacy no one now doubted, there were 
several who stood nearer in right of succession, 

* Green, History of the English People. 



284 LEADING FACTS OF ENGLISH HISTORY. 

550. Benefits of the Revolution. — Foremost in the list of bene- 
fits which England gained by the Revolution should be placed : 1. 
That Toleration Act already mentioned, which gave to a very 
large number the right of worshipping God according to the dic- 
tates of conscience. 2. Parliament now established the salutary 
rule that no money should be voted to the king except for specific 
purposes, and they also limited the royal revenue to a few years' 
supply instead of granting it for life, as had been done in the case 
of Charles II. and James. 1 As the Mutiny Act made the army 
dependent for its existence on the annual meeting and action of 
the House of Commons, these two measures practically gave the 
people full control of the two great powers — the purse and the 
sword, — which they have ever since retained. 3. Parliament next 
enacted that judges should hold office not as heretofore, at his 
Majesty's pleasure, but during good behavior, thus taking away 
that dangerous authority of the king over the courts of justice, 
which had caused so much oppression and cruelty. 4. But, as 
Macaulay remarks, of all the reforms produced by the change of 
government, perhaps none proved more extensively useful than the 
establishment of the liberty of the press. Up to this time no book 
or newspaper could be published in England without a license. 
During the Commonwealth Milton had earnestly labored to get 
this severe law repealed, declaring that "while he who kills a 
man kills a reasonable creature ... he who destroys a good 
book [by refusing to let it appear] kills reason itself." 2 But 
under James II. Chief Justice Scroggs had declared it a crime to 
publish any thing whatever concerning the government, whether 
true or false, without a license, and during that reign there were 
only four places in England — viz., London, Oxford, Cambridge, 
and York — where any book, pamphlet, or newspaper could be 
legally issued, and then only with the sanction of a rigid 
inspector. Under William and Mary this restriction was removed, 
and henceforth men were free not only to think, but to print and 

3. Later, limited to a single year's supply. 

2 Milton's Areopagitica, or speech in behalf of unlicensed printing. 



DIVINE RIGHT OF KINGS AND PEOPLE. 285 

circulate their thought, and thus to bring the government more 
directly before that bar of public opinion which judges all men 
and all' institutions. 

\ 551. Arrival of James; Act of Attainder; Siege of Lon- 
donderry and Battle of the Boyne; Glencoe. — But though 
; William was king of England, and had been accepted as king of 
i Scotland, yet the Irish, like the Scotch Highlanders, refused to 
recognize him as their lawful sovereign. The great body of Irish 
population was then, as now, Roman Catholic ; but they had been 
gradually dispossessed of their hold on the land, and by far the 
larger part of the most desirable portion of the island was owned 
by a few hundred thousand Protestant colonists. On the other 
hand James II. had, during his reign, put the civil government and 
the military power in the hands of the Catholics. Tyrconnel * now 
raised the standard of rebellion in the interest of the Catholics, and 
invited James to come and regain his throne. The Protestants of 
the north stood by William, and thus got that name of Orange- 
men which they have ever since retained. James landed in Ireland 
in the spring of 1689 with a small French force lent him by Louis 
XIV. 

He established his headquarters at Dublin, and not long after 
issued that great Act of Attainder which summoned all who were 
in rebellion against his authority to appear for trial on a given day, 
or be declared traitors, hanged, drawn and quartered, and their 
property confiscated. 2 Next, the siege of the Protestant city of 
Londonderry was begun. For more than three months it held 
out against shot and shell, famine and fever. The starving inhab- 
itants, exceeding 30,000 in number, were finally reduced t to the 
last extremities. Nothing was left to eat but a fe^v miserable 
horses and some salted hides. As they looked into each other's 

1 See Paragraph No. 540. 

2 Attainder (from the Old French attaindre, to accuse, to stain). This act con- 
tained between two and three thousand names. It embraced all classes, from half the 
peerage of Ireland to tradesmen, women, and children. If they failed to appear, 
they were to be put to death without trial. 



286 LEADING FACTS OF ENGLISH HISTORY. 

hollow eyes, the question came, Must we surrender? Then it 
was that an aged clergyman, the venerable George Walker, one 
of the governors of the city, pleaded with them, Bible in hand, 
to remain firm. That appeal carried the day. They declared 
that rather than open the gates to the enemy, they would perish of 
hunger, or, as some voice whispered, that they would fall " first on 
the horses and the hides, — then on the prisoners, — then — on each 
other! " But at this moment, when all hope seemed lost, a shout 
of triumph was heard. An English force had sailed up the river, 
broken through all obstructions, and the valiant city was saved. 
A year later (1690) occurred the decisive battle of the Boyne, 1 at 
which William commanded in person on the one side, while James 
was present on the opposite side. William had a somewhat larger 
force and by far the greater number of well-armed, veteran troops. 
The contest ended with the utter defeat of James. He stood on a 
hill at a safe distance, and when he saw that the battle was going 
against him, turned and fled for France. William, on the other 
hand, though suffering from a wound, led his own men. The 
cowardly behavior of James excited the disgust and scorn of both 
the French and Irish. " Change kings with us," shouted an Irish 
officer to one of William's men, " change kings with us, and 
we'll fight you over again." The war was brought to an end 
by the treaty of Limerick, in 1691, when about 10,000 Irish sol- 
diers who had fought for James, and who no longer cared to 
remain in their own country after their defeat, were permitted to go 
to France. " When the wild cry of the women, who stood watch- 
ing their departure, was hushed, the silence of death settled down 
upon Ireland. For a hundred years the country remained at 
peace, but the peace was that of despair." 2 In violation of the 
treaty, the Catholics were hunted like wild beasts, and terrible 
vengeance was now taken for that Act of Attainder which James 
had foolishly been persuaded to issue. Fighting against William 



1 Fought in the East of Ireland, On the banks of the river of that name. 

2 Green's English People. 



DIVINE RIGHT OF KINGS AND PEOPLE. 287 

and Mary had also been going on in Scotland, but the Jacobites 
had been conquered, and a proclamation was sent out command- 
ing all the Highland clans to take the oath of allegiance before 
Jan. 1, 1692. A chief of the clan of the Macdonalds of Glencoe, 
through no fault of his own, failed to make submission within the 
appointed time. Scotch enemies of the clan gave the king to un- 
derstand that the chief had declined taking the oath, and urged 
William "to extirpate that set of thieves." The king signed an 
order to that effect, probably without reading it, or, at any rate, 
without understanding what was intended. The Scotch authorities 
managed the rest in their own way. They sent a body of soldiers 
to Glencoe who were hospitably received by the Macdonalds. 
After stopping with them a number of days, they rose before light 
one winter morning, and, suddenly attacking their friendly hosts, 
murdered all the men who did not escape, and drove the women 
and children out into the snowdrifts to perish of cold and hunger. 
They finished their work of destruction by burning the cabins and 
driving away the cattle. By this act, Glencoe, or the " Glen of 
Weeping," was changed into the very Valley of the Shadow of 
Death. The blame which attaches to William is that he did 
nothing toward punishing those who planned and carried out the 
horrible massacre. 

The English commander, Admiral Russell, like many of 
William's pretended friends and supporters, had been engaged 
in treasonable correspondence with James, so that in case the 
latter succeeded in recovering his crown, he might make sure 
of the sunshine of royal favor. But at the last he changed his 
mind and fought so bravely that the French were utterly beaten. 
The continental wars of William continued, however, for the next 
five years, until by the Peace of Ryswick, 1 1697, Louis XIV. 
bound himself to recognize William as king of England, the 
Princess Anne as his successor, to withdraw all support from 
James, and to place the chief fortresses of the Low Countries in 

1 Ryswick : a village of Holland, near the Hague. 



288 LEADING FACTS OF ENGLISH HISTORY. 

the hands of the Dutch garrisons. This peace marked the end 
of the conspiracy between Louis and the Stuarts to turn England 
into a Roman Catholic country dependent on France. When 
William went in solemn state to return thanks for the conclu- 
sion of the war, it was to the new cathedral of St. Paul's, which 
Wren had nearly completed, and which was then first used for 
public worship. 

552. The National Debt; the Bank of England. — William 
had now gained, at least temporarily, the object that he had 
in view when he accepted the English crown ; which was to draw 
that nation into a close defensive alliance against Louis XIV., 1 
who, as we have seen, was bent on destroying both the political 
and the religious liberty of the Dutch as a Protestant people. 
The constant wars which followed William's accession had com- 
pelled the king to borrow large sums from the London mer- 
chants. Out of these loans sprang, first the National Debt, which 
was destined to grow, eventually by leaps and bounds, from less 
than a million of pounds up to so many hundred millions, that all 
thought of ever paying it is now given up. The second result 
was the organization of a company for the management of this 
colossal debt ; together the two were destined to become more 
widely known than any of William's victories. 

The building erected by that company stands on Threadneedle 
Street, in the very heart of London. In one of its courts is a 
statue of the king set up in 1734, bearing this inscription: "To 
the memory of the best of princes, William of Orange, founder of j 
the Bank of England" — by far the largest and most important 
financial institution in the world. 

553. William's Death. — William had a brave soul in a feeble 
body. All his life he was an invalid, but he learned to conquer 
disease, or at least to hold it in check, as he conquered his 
enemies. He was never popular in England, and at one time 
was only kept from returning to his native country through the 

1 See Guizot, History of Civilization, chap. XIII. 



DIVINE RIGHT OF KINGS AND PEOPLE. 289 

earnest protestation of his chancellor, Lord Somers, who refused 
to stamp the king's resignation with the Great Seal. Those 
who pretended to sustain him were in many cases treacher- 
ous, and only wanted a good opportunity to go over to the side 
of James ; others were eager to hear of his death, and when it 
occurred, through the stumbling of his horse over a mole-hill, 
drank to "the little gentleman in black velvet," whose under- 
ground work caused the accident. 

'554. Summary. — William's reign was a prolonged battle for 
Protestantism and for the maintenance of political liberty in 
both England and Holland. Invalid as he was, he was yet a man 
of indomitable resolution as well as indomitable courage ; and 
though a foreigner by birth, and caring more for Holland than 
for any country in the world, yet through his Irish and conti- 
nental wars with James and Louis, he helped more than any man 
of the seventeenth century, Cromwell alone excepted, to make 
England free. 

ANNE. — 1702-1714. 

555. Accession and Character of Anne. — As William left no 
children, the Princess Anne, younger sister of the late Queen 
Mary now came to the throne. She was a negative charac- 
ter, with kindly impulses and little intelligence. "When in 
good humor she was meekly stupid, and when in ill humor, 
sulkily stupid ; " 1 but if there was any person duller than her 
majesty, that person was her majesty's husband, Prince George of 
Denmark. Charles II., who knew him well, said, " I have tried 
Prince George sober, and I have tried him drunk, and drunk or 
sober there is nothing in him." 

Along with the amiable qualities which gained for the new 
ruler the title of " Good Queen Anne " her majesty inherited the 
obstinacy, the prejudices, and the superstitions of the Stuarts. 
Though a most zealous Protestant and an ardent upholder of 

1 Macaulay's England ; and compare Stanhope's Reign of Anne. 



290 



LEADING FACTS OF ENGLISH HISTORY. 



the Church of England, she declared her faith in the Divine 
Right of Kings, which had cost her grandfather Charles his head, 
and she was the last English -sovereign who believed that the 
royal hand could dispel disease. The first theory she never 
openly proclaimed in any offensive way, but the harmless delusion 
that she could relieve the sick was a favorite notion with her, and 
we find in the London Gazette of March 12, 1712, an official 
announcement, stating that on certain days the que*en would 
"touch" for the cure of "king's evil," or scrofula. Among 
the multitudes who went to test her power was a poor Lichfield 
bookseller. He carried to her his little half-blind sickly boy, 
who by virtue either of her majesty's beneficent fingers, or from 
some other and better reason, grew up to be known as the famous 
author and lexicographer, Dr. Samuel Johnson. 1 

556. Whig and Tory ; High Church and Low. — Politically, 
the government of the country was divided between the two 
great parties of the Whigs and the Tories, 2 since succeeded by 
the Liberals and Conservatives. Though mutually hostile, each 
believing that its rival's success meant national ruin, yet both 
were sincerely opposed to despotism on the one hand, and to 
anarchy on the other. The Whigs, setting Parliament above the 
throne, were pledged to maintain the Act of Settlement 3 and 
the Protestant succession ; while the Tories, insisting on heredi- 
tary sovereignty, were anxious to set aside that act and restore 
the excluded Stuarts. 

The Church of England was likewise divided into two parties, 
known as High Church and Low Church. The first, who were gen- 
erally Tories, wished to exalt the power of the bishops and were 
opposed to the toleration of Dissenters ; the second, who were 
Whigs as a rule, believed it best to curtail the authority of the 

1 Johnson told Boswell, his biographer, that he remembered the incident, and 
that " he had a confused, but somehow a sort of solemn recollection of a lady in 
diamonds and a long black hood." — BOSWELL'S Johnson. 

2 See Paragraph No. 531. 

3 See Paragraph No. 549. 



DIVINE RIGHT OF KINGS AND PEOPLE. 29I 

bishops, and to secure to all Trinitarian Protestants entire liberty 
of worship and all civil and political rights and privileges. Thus 
to the bitterness of heated political controversy there was added 
the still more acrid bitterness of theological dispute. Addison tells 
an amusing story of a boy who was called a " Popish cur " by a 
Whig, because, having lost his way, he ventured to inquire for 
Saint Anne's Lane, while he was cuffed for irreverence by a Tory 
when, correcting himself, he asked bluntly for Anne's Lane. 

The queen, although she owed her crown mainly to the Whigs, 
sympathized with the Tories and the High Church, and did all in 
her power to strengthen both. As for the leaders of the two par- 
ties, they seem to have looked out first for themselves, and after- 
ward — often a long way afterward — for their country. During 
the whole reign they were plotting and counterplotting, mining and 
undermining, until their subtle schemes to secure office and destroy 
each other become as incomprehensible and as fathomless as those 
of the fallen angels in Milton's vision of the Bottomless Pit. 

557. The War of the Spanish Succession. — Anne had no 
sooner come to the throne than war broke out with France. It 
had its origin in the previous reign. William III. cared little for 
England compared with his native Holland, whose interests always 
had the first place in his heart. He had spent his life battling to 
preserve the independence of the Dutch Republic against the dangers 
which threatened it, and especially against Louis XIV. of France, 
who was determined, if possible, to annex the Netherlands, includ- 
ing Holland, to his own dominion. During the latter part of Wil- 
liam's reign the French king seemed likely to be able to accomplish 
his purpose. The king of Spain, who had no children, was in feeble 
health, and at his death it was probable that Louis XIV.'s grand- 
son, Philip of Anjou, would receive the crown. Louis XIV. was 
then the most powerful prince in Europe, and should his grandson 
become king of Spain, it meant that the French monarch would 
eventually add the Spanish dominions to his own. These domin- 
ions comprised not only Spain proper, but a large part of the 



292 LEADING FACTS OF ENGLISH HISTORY. 

Netherlands adjoining Holland, 1 portions of Italy, and immense 
provinces in both North and South America, including the West 
Indies. Such an empire, if it came under the control of Louis, 
would make him irresistible on the continent of Europe, and the 
little, free Protestant states of Holland could not hope to stand 
before him. William endeavored to prevent Louis from carrying 
out his designs respecting Spain, by two secret treaties, and also by 
an alliance formed between Germany, Holland, and England, all 
of whom were threatened by the prospective preponderating power 
of France. Louis had signed these treaties, but had no intention 
of abiding by them. When, not long after, the king of Spain 
died and left the crown to Philip of Anjou, the French sovereign 
openly declared his intention of placing him on the Spanish throne, 
saying significantly as his grandson left Paris for Madrid, " The 
Pyrenees no longer exist." 2 Furthermore, Louis now put French 
garrisons in the border towns of the Spanish Netherlands, showing 
that he regarded them as practically his own, and he thus had a 
force ready at any moment to march across the frontier into Hol- 
land. Finally, on the death of James II., which occurred shortly 
before William's, Louis publicly acknowledged the exiled mon- 
arch's son, James Edward, the "Old Pretender," 3 as rightful sover- 
eign of England, Scotland, and Ireland. This, and this only, 
effectually roused the English people ; they were preparing for 
hostilities when William's sudden death occurred. Immediately 
after Anne's succession, war was declared, which, since it had 
grown out of Louis's designs on the crown of Spain, was called 
the War of the Spanish Succession. 

But although the contest was undertaken by England mainly 

1 The whole of the Netherlands at one time belonged to Spain, but the 
northern part, or Holland, had succeeded in establishing its independence, and ' 
was protected on the southern frontier by a line of fortified towns. 

2 When Philip went to Spain, Louis XIV., by letters patent, reserved the suc- 
cession to the Spanish throne to France, thus virtually uniting the two countries, so 
that the Pyrenees Mountains would no longer have any political meaning as a 
boundary. 

3 See Paragraphs Nos. 542 and 543. 



DIVINE RIGHT OF KINGS AND PEOPLE. 293 

to prevent the French king from carrying out his threat of placing 
the " Pretender " on the English throne, — thus restoring the 
country to the Roman Catholic Stuarts, — yet as it went on it came 
to have two other important objects. The first of these was the 
defence of Holland, now a most valuable ally ; the second was the 
protection of the Virginia and New England colonies against the 
power of France, which threatened through its own American col- 
onies, and through the extensive Spanish possessions it expected 
to acquire, to get control of the whole of the New World. 1 Thus 
England had three objects at stake: 1. The maintenance of 
Protestant government at home ; 2. The maintenance of the 
Protestant power of Holland; 3. The possession of the American 
continent. For this reason the War of the Spanish Succession 
may in one sense be regarded as the beginning of a second Hun- 
dred Years' War between England and France, 2 destined to decide 
which was to build up the great empire of the future in the 
Western Hemisphere. 8 ^Vx 

558. Marlborough; Blenheim and Other Victories. — John 
Churchill, Duke of Marlborough, commanded the English and 
Dutch forces, and had for his ally Prince Eugene of Savoy, who 
led the German armies. The duke, who was known in the 
enemy's camps by the flattering name of "the handsome Eng- 
lishman," had risen from obscurity. He owed the beginning of 
his success to his good looks and a court intrigue. In politics 
he sympathized chiefly with the Tories, but his interests in the 
war led him to support the Whigs. He was avaricious, unscru- 
pulous, perfidious. James II. trusted him, and he deceived him 
and went over to William ; William trusted him, and he deceived 
him and opened a treasonable correspondence with the dethroned 



1 At this time England had only the colonies of Virginia and New England, 
with part of Newfoundland. France and Spain claimed nearly all the rest. 

2 During the next eighty years fighting was going on between England and 
France, directly or indirectly, for a great part of the time. 

8 See Seeley's Expansion of England. 



294 LEADING FACTS OF ENGLISH HISTORY. 

James; Anne trusted him, and he would undoubtedly have 
betrayed her if the " Pretender " had only possessed means to 
bid high enough, or in any way show that his cause was 
likely to be successful. In his greed for money he hesitated at 
nothing; he took bribes from army contractors, and robbed his 
soldiers of their pay; though in this he was perhaps no worse 
than many other generals of his, and even of later times. 1 As a 
soldier, Marlborough had no equal. Voltaire says of him with 
truth that " he never besieged a fortress which he did not take, 
nor fight a battle which he did not win." This man at once so 
able and so false, to whom war was a private speculation rather 
than a contest for right or principle, now opened the campaign 
by capturing those fortresses in the Spanish Netherlands, which 
Louis XIV. had garrisoned with French troops to menace Hol- 
land ; but he could not induce the enemy to risk a battle in the 
open field. At length, in the summer of 1704, Marlborough, by 
a brilliant movement, changed the scene of the war from the 
Netherlands to Bavaria. There, at the little village of Blenheim, 
he, with Prince Eugene, gained a victory over the French which 
saved Germany from the power of Louis XIV., and England, out 
of gratitude for the humiliation of her powerful enemy, presented 
the duke with the ancient royal Park of Woodstock, and built 
for him, at the nation's cost, that Palace of Blenheim still occupied 
by descendants of the duke's family. 2 Gibraltar had been taken 
a few days before Blenheim by an attack by sea, so that England 
now had, as she continues still to have, the command of the great 
inland sea of the Mediterranean. 

In the Netherlands, two years later, Marlborough won the battle 
of Ramillies, 3 by which the whole of that country was recovered 
from the French. Two years from that time Louis's forces marched 
back into the Netherlands, and were beaten at Oudenarde, where 

1 See Thackeray's Henry Esmond. 

2 Blenheim : a short distance from Oxford. The palace grounds are about 
Avelve miles in circumference. 

« Ramillies (Ram'e-lez). 



DIVINE RIGHT OF KINGS AND PEOPLE. 295 

they were trying to recover the territory they had lost. A year 
afterward, Marlborough carried the war into Northern France, 
fought his last great fight, and gained his last great victory at 
Malplaquet, 1 by which the power of Louis was so far broken that 
both England and Europe could breathe freely, and the English 
colonies in America felt that for the present there was no dangei- 
of their being driven into the Atlantic by either the French or 
the Spaniards. 

559. The Powers behind the Throne; Jennings versus 
Masham. — While the war was going on, the real power, so far as 
the crown was concerned, though in Anne's name, was practically 
in the hands of Sarah Jennings, Duchess of Marlborough, who held 
the office of Mistress of the Robes. She and the queen had long 
been inseparable, and it was her influence that caused Anne to de- 
sert her father and espouse the cause of William of Orange. The 
imperious temper of the duchess carried all before it, and in her 
department she won victories which might be compared with those 
the duke, her husband, gained on the field of battle. In time, 
indeed, her sway over her royal companion became so absolute 
that she decided everything, from questions of state to the cut of 
a gown or the color of a ribbon, so that it finally grew to be a 
common saying that " Queen Anne reigns, but Queen Sarah gov- 
erns." 2 While she continued in power, she used her influence to 
urge forward the war with France undertaken by England to 
check the designs of Louis XIV. on Spain and Holland, and also 
to punish him for his recognition of the claim of the Pretender to 
the English crown. Her object was to advance her husband, who, 
as commander-in-chief of the English and Dutch forces on the 
continent, had won fame and fortune — the first by his splen- 
did ability, the second by his unscrupulous greed. 

1 Malplaquet (MaTpla'ka'). 

2 For years the queen and the duchess carried on an almost daily correspondence 
under the names of " Mrs. Morley " (the queen) and " Mrs. Freeman " (the duchess), 
the latter taking that name because, as she boasted, it suited the frank and bold 
character of her letters. 



296 LEADING FACTS OF ENGLISH HISTORY. 

After a number of years, the queen and the duchess quarrelled, 
and the latter was superseded by a Mrs. Masham, who soon got as 
complete control of Anne as the former favorite had possessed. 
Mrs. Masham was as sly and supple as the duchess had been 
dictatorial and violent. She was cousin to Robert Harley, a 
prominent Tory politician. Through her influence Harley now 
became prime minister in everything but name. The Whig war 
policy was abandoned, negotiations for peace were secretly opened, 
and Marlborough was ordered home in disgrace on a charge of 
having robbed the government. Mr. Masham, much to his wife's 
satisfaction, was created a peer of the realm, and finally a treaty 
was drafted for an inglorious peace. Thus it was, as Hallam re- 
marks, that " the fortunes of Europe were changed by the insolence 
of one waiting-woman and the cunning of another." * 

560. Dr. Sacheverell. — An incident occurred at this time 
which greatly helped the Tories in their schemes. Now that the 
danger was over, England was growing weary of the continuance 
of a war which involved a constant drain of both men and money. 
Dr. Sacheverell, a violent Tory and High Churchman, began 
preaching a series of sermons in London condemning the war, and 
the Whigs who were carrying it on. He also endeavored to revive 
the exploded theory of die Divine Right of kings, and declared 
that no tyranny on the part of a sovereign could by any possi- 
bility justify a subject in resisting the royal will, with much 
more foolish talk of the same kind, all of which he published. 
The Whig leaders unwisely brought the preacher to trial for 
alleged treasonable utterances. He was suspended from his 
office for three years, and his book of sermons was publicly 
burned by the common hangman. 

This created intense popular excitement; Sacheverell was re- 
garded as a political martyr by all who wished the war ended. 
A reaction against the government set in ; the Whigs were driven 
from power, the Duchess of Marlborough had to leave her apart- 

1 Hallam's Constitutional History of England. 



DIVINE RIGHT OF KINGS AND PEOPLE. 2ty 

ments in the palace of St. James, and in her spite broke down 
marble mantels and tore off the locks from doors ; Mrs. Masham's 
friends, the Tories, or peace party, now triumphed, and pre- 
pared to put an end to the fighting. 

561. The Peace of Utrecht. 1 — Not long after this change a 
messenger was privately despatched to Louis XIV. to ask if he 
wished for peace. "It was," says the French minister, "like 
asking a dying man whether he would wish to be cured." 2 Later, 
terms were agreed upon between the Tories and the French, 
though without the knowledge of the English people or their allies ; 
but finally, in 17 13, in the quaint Dutch city of Utrecht, the allies, 
together with France and Spain, signed the treaty bearing that 
name. By it Louis XIV. bound himself: 1. To acknowledge the 
Protestant succession in England; 2. To compel the Pretender 
to quit France ; 3. To renounce the union of the crowns of France 
and Spain ; 3 4. To cede to England all claims to Newfoundland, 
Acadia, or Nova Scotia, and that vast region known as the 
Hudson Bay Company's Possessions. Next, Spain was to give up : 
1. The Spanish Netherlands to Austria, an ally of Holland, and 
grant to the Dutch a line of forts to defend their frontier against 
France; 2. England was to have the exclusive right for thirty- 
three years of supplying the Spanish-American colonists with 
negro slaves. 4 This trade had long been coveted by the Eng- 
lish, and had been carried on to some extent by them ever 
since Sir John Hawkins grew so rich through it in Queen Eliza- 
beth's time, that he set up a coat of arms emblazoned with a 
slave in fetters, that all might see how he had won wealth and 
distinction. 



1 Utrecht (U'trekt). 

2 Morris, The Age of Anne. 

8 But Philip was to retain the throne of Spain. 

4 This right had formerly belonged to France. By its transfer England got tht 
privilege of furnishing 4800 "sound, merchantable negroes" annually; "two- 
thirds to be males " between ten and forty years of age. 



298 LEADING FACTS OF ENGLISH HISTORY. 

562. Union of England and Scotland. — Since the acces- 
sion of James I., England and Scotland had been ruled by one 
sovereign, but each country retained its own Parliament and its 
own forms of worship. In 1707 the two countries were united 
under the name of Great Britain. The independent Parliament 
of Scotland was given up, and the Scotch were henceforth 
represented in the English Parliament by sixteen peers chosen 
by the House of Lords at the summoning of every Parliament ; 
and by forty-five (now sixty) members returned by Scotland to 
the House of Commons. 

With the consummation of the union Great Britain adopted a 
new flag, the Union Jack, which was formed by the junction of 
the red cross of St. George and the white cross of St. Andrew. 1 

563. Literature of the Period; the First Daily Paper. — The 

reign of Anne has been characterized as one of corruption in 
high places and of brutality in low, but in literature it takes rank 
next to that of Elizabeth. There was indeed no great central 
luminary like Shakespeare, but a constellation of lesser ones — 
such as Addison, De Foe, and Pope — that shone with a mild 
splendor peculiarly their own: the lurid brilliancy of the half- 
mad satirist Dean Swift, who moved in an orbit apart, was also 
beginning to command attention ; while the calm, clear light of 
John Locke was near its setting. Aside from these great names 
in letters, it was an age generally of contented dulness, well repre- 
sented in the good-natured mediocrity of Queen Anne herself. 
During her reign the first daily newspaper appeared in England 
— the Daily C our ant ; it was a dingy, badly printed little sheet 
not much bigger than a man's hand. The publisher said he 
made it so small "to save the Publick at least one-half the 
Impertinences of Ordinary News-Papers." 

1 St. George: the patron saint of England; St. Andrew: the patron saint of 
Scotland. In 1801, when Ireland was united to Great Britain, the red cross of St. 
Patrick was added to the flag. Jack: from Jacques (French for James), James 
I.'s usual signature. The first union flag was his work. 



DIVINE RIGHT OF KINGS AND PEOPLE. 299 

Perhaps it was well this journal made no greater pretensions ; for, 
since it had to compete with swarms of abusive political pam- 
phlets, such as Swift wrote for the Tories and De Foe for the Whigs ; 
since it had also to compete with the gossip and scandal of the 
coffee-houses and the clubs, the proprietor found it no easy 
matter to either fill or sell it. 

A few years later a new journal appeared of a very different 
kind, called the Spectator, which Addison, its chief contributor, 
soon made famous. Each number consisted of an essay hitting off 
the follies and foibles of the age, and was regularly served at the 
breakfast- tables of people of fashion along with their tea and toast. 
One of it greatest merits was its happy way of showing that wit 
and virtue are after all better friends than wit and vice. These two 
dissimilar sheets, neither of which dared to publish a single line of 
Parliamentary debate, mark the humble beginning of that vast 
organized power, represented by the daily press of London, which 
discusses everything of note or interest throughout the world. 

564. Death of the Queen. — With Anne's death in 17 14 the 
Stuart power came to an end. All of her children had died in 
infancy, except one unfortunate sickly son who lived just long 
enough to awaken hopes which were buried with him. Accord- 
ing to the terms of the Act of Settlement 1 the crown now passed 
to George, Elector of Hanover, a Protestant descendant of James 
I. of England ; though James Edward, son of James II., believed 
to the last that his half-sister, the queen, would name him her 
successor; 2 instead of that it was she who first dubbed him the 
" Pretender." 

565. Summary. — The whole reign of Anne was taken up with 
the strife of political parties at home, and the War of the Suc- 
cession abroad. The Whigs were always intriguing through the 
Duchess of Marlborough and other leaders to keep up the war 
and to keep out the " Pretender " ; the Tories, on the other hand, 

1 See Paragraph No. 549. 

2 Anne and the " Pretender" were children of James II. by different mothers. 



300 LEADING FACTS OF ENGLISH HISTORY. 

were just as busy through Mrs. Masham and her coadjutors in en- 
deavoring to establish peace, and with it the Divine Right of Kings, 
while the extremists among them hoped for the restoration of the 
Roman Catholic Stuarts in the person of James Edward. The 
result of the War of the Succession was the defeat of Louis XIV. 
and the confirmation of that Act of Settlement which secured the 
English crown to a Protestant prince. 



GENERAL VIEW OF THE STUART PERIOD. 
1603-1649 (Commonwealth, 1649-1660) ; 1660-1714. 

I. GOVERNMENT. — II. RELIGION. — III. MILITARY AFFAIRS. — IV. 
LITERATURE, LEARNING, AND ART. — V. GENERAL INDUSTRY AND 
COMMERCE. — VI. MODE OF LIFE, MANNERS, AND CUSTOMS. 

GOVERNMENT. 

566. Divine Right of Kings ; the Civil War ; the Revolution 

of 1688. — The period began with the attempt of James I. to carry out 
his theory that the king derives his right to rule directly from God, and 
in no wise from the people. Charles I. adopted this disastrous theory, 
and was supported in it by Mainwaring and other clergymen, who de- 
clared that the king represents God on earth, and that the subject who 
resists his will, or refuses a tax or loan to him, does so at the everlast- 
ing peril of his soul. Charles's arbitrary methods of government, and 
levies of illegal taxes, with the imprisonment of those who refused 
to pay them, led to the meeting of the Long Parliament and the enact- 
ment of the statute of the Petition of Right, or second great charter of 
English liberties. 

The same Parliament abolished the despotic court of Star-Chamber 
and High Commission, which had been used by Strafford and Laud 
to carry out their tyrannical scheme called "Thorough." 

Charles's renewed acts of oppression and open violation of the laws, 
with his levies of Ship-money, led to the Grand Remonstrance, an 
appeal to the nation to support Parliament in its 'struggle with the king. 
The attempt of the king to arrest five members who had taken a promi- 
nent part in drawing up the Remonstrance, brought on the Civil War, 



DIVINE RIGHT OF KINGS AND PEOPLE. 3OI 

and the establishment of a republic which declared, in opposition to the 
doctrine of the Divine Right of Kings, that " the people are, under 
God, the origin of all just power." Eventually, Cromwell became Pro- 
tector of the nation, and ruled by means of a strong military power. 

On the restoration of the Stuarts, Charles II. endeavored to rule 
without Parliament by selling his influence to Louis XIV., by the secret 
treaty of Dover. During his reign, the Habeas Corpus Act was passed, 
and feudalism practically abolished. 

James II. endeavored to restore the Roman Catholic religion. His 
treatment of the University of Oxford, and imprisonment of the Seven 
Bishops, with the birth of a son who would be educated as a Roman 
Catholic, caused the Revolution of 1688, and placed William and Mary 
on the throne. 

Parliament now passed the Bill of Rights, the third great charter for 
the protection of the English people, and later confirmed it by the Act 
of Settlement, which secured the crown to a line of Protestant sover- 
eigns. The Mutiny Bill, passed at the beginning of William III.'s 
reign, made the army dependent on Parliament. These measures prac- 
tically put the government in the hands of the House of Commons, 
where it has ever since remained. William's war caused the beginning 
of the national debt and the establishment of the Bank of England. 

In the reign of Anne, 1707, Scotland and England were united under 
the name of Great Britain. During her sovereignty the Whig and 
Tory parties, which came into existence in the time of Charles II., be- 
came especially prominent, and they have since (though lately under 
the name of Liberals and Conservatives) continued to divide the Par- 
liamentary government between them, — the Whigs seeking to extend 
the power of the people ; the Tories, that of the crown and the church. 

RELIGION. 
567. Religious Parties and Religious Legislation. — At the 

beginning of this period we find four religious parties in England : 1 . 
The Roman Catholics ; 2. The Episcopalians, or supporters of the 
National Church of England ; 3. The Puritans, who were seeking to 
" purify " the church from certain Roman Catholic customs and modes 
of worship ; 4. The Independents, who were endeavoring to establish 
independent congregational societies. In Scotland the Puritans estab- 
lished their religion in a church governed by elders, or presbyters, 
instead of bishops, and on that account got the name of Presbyterians, 



302 LEADING FACTS OF ENGLISH HISTORY. 

James I. persecuted all who dissented from the Church of England ; 
and after the Gunpowder Plot the Roman Catholics were practically 
deprived of the protection of the law, and subject to terrible oppression. 
In the same reign two Unitarians were burned at Smithfield for denying 
the doctrine of the Trinity. 

During the period of the Civil War and the Commonwealth, Pres- 
byterianism was established as the national worship of England and 
Scotland by the Solemn League and Covenant. At the Restoration 
severe laws against the Scotch Covenanters and other dissenters were 
enforced, and two thousand clergymen were driven from their parishes 
to starve ; on the other hand, the pretended Popish Plot caused the 
exclusion of Roman Catholics from both Houses of Parliament, and 
all persons holding office were obliged to partake of the sacrament 
according to the Church of England. James II. 's futile attempt to 
restore Catholicism ended in the Revolution and the passage of the 
Toleration Act, granting liberty of worship to all Protestant Trini- 
tarians. 

MILITARY AFFAIRS. 

568. Armor and Arms. — Armor still continued to be worn in 
some degree during this period, but it consisted chiefly of the hel- 
met with breast and back-plates. Firearms of various kinds were in 
general use ; also hand-grenades, or small bombs, and the bayonet. 
The chief wars of the period were the Civil War, the wars with the 
Dutch, William's war with France, and that of the Spanish Succession. 

LEARNING, LITERATURE, AND ART. 

569. Great "Writers. — The most eminent prose writers of this 
period were Sir Walter Raleigh, Lord Bacon, Sir Isaac Newton, John 
Bunyan, Jeremy Taylor, John Locke, Dean Swift, De Foe, and Addison; 
the chief poets, Shakespeare and Jonson (already mentioned under 
the preceding period), Milton, Dryden, Pope, Butler, and Beaumont and 
Fletcher, with a class of writers known as the " Comic Dramatists of 
the Restoration," whose works, though not lacking in genius, exhibit 
many of the worst features of the licentious age in which they were pro- 
duced. Three other great writers were born in the latter part of this 
period, — Fielding, the novelist, Hume, the historian, and Butler, 1 the 

1 Bishop Butler, author of The Analogy of Religion (1736), a work which 
gained for him the title of " the Bacon of Theology." 



DIVINE RIGHT OF KINGS AND PEOPLE. 303 

ablest thinker of his time in the English Church, — but their produc- 
tions belong to the time of the Georges. 

c 570. Progress in Science and Invention. — Sir Isaac Newton 
revolutionized natural philosophy by his discovery and demonstration 
of the law of gravitation, and Dr. William Harvey accomplished as 
great a change in physiological science by his discovery of the circula- 
tion of the blood. The most remarkable invention of the age was a 
rude steam engine, patented in 1698 by Captain Savery, and so far im- 
proved by Thomas Newcomen in 17 12 that it was used for pumping 
water in coal mines for many years. Both were destined to be super- 
seded by James Watt's engine, which belongs to a later period (1765). 

571. Architecture. — The Gothic style of the preceding periods 
was followed by the Italian, or classical, represented in the works of 
Inigo Jones and Sir Christopher Wren. It was a revival, in modified 
form, of the ancient Greek and Roman architecture. St. Paul's Cathe- 
dral, the grandest church ever built in England for Protestant worship, 
is the best example of this style. Many beautiful manor-houses were 
built in the early part of this period, which, like the churches of the 
time, are often ornamented with the exquisite wood-carving of Grinling 
Gibbons. There were no great artists in England in this age, though 
Charles I. employed Rubens and other foreign painters to decorate the 
palace of Whitehall and Windsor Castle. 

572. Education. — The higher education of the period was con- 
fined almost wholly to the study of Latin and Greek. The discipline 
of all schools was extremely harsh. Nearly every lesson was empha- 
sized by a liberalapplication of the rod, and the highest recommenda- 
tion a teacher could have was that he was known as "a learned and 
lashing master." 

GENERAL INDUSTRY AND COMMERCE. 

573. Manufactures. — Woollen goods continued to be a chief arti- 
cle of manufacture. Silks were also produced by thousands of Hugue- 
not weavers, who fled from France to escape the persecutions of Louis 
XIV. Coal was now extensively mined, and iron and pottery works 
were giving industrial importance to Birmingham and other growing 
towns in the midlands. 

574. Commerce. — During a great part of this period intense com- 
mercial rivalry existed between England and Holland, each of which 



304 LEADING FACTS OF ENGLISH HISTORY. 

was anxious to get the monopoly of the colonial import and export 
trade. Parliament passed stringent navigation laws, under Cromwell 
and later, to prevent the Dutch from competing with English merchants 
and shippers. The East India and South Sea companies were means 
of greatly extending English commercial enterprise, as was also the 
tobacco culture of Virginia. 

575. Roads and Travel. — Good roads were still unknown in 
England. Stage coaches carried a few passengers at exorbitant rates, 
requiring an entire day to go a distance which an express train now 
travels in less than an hour. Goods were carried on pack-horses or in 
cumbrous wagons, and so great was the expense of transportation that 
farmers often let their produce rot on the ground rather than attempt to 
get it to the nearest market town. 

In London a few coaches were in use, but covered chairs, carried on 
poles by two men and called "sedan chairs," were the favorite vehicles. 
Although London had been in great part rebuilt since the fire of 1666, 
the streets were still very narrow, without sidewalks, heaped with filth, 
and miserably lighted. 

576. Agriculture; Pauperism. — Agriculture generally made no 
marked improvement, but gardening did, and many vegetables and 
fruits were introduced which had not before been cultivated. 

Pauperism remained a problem which the government had not yet 
found a practical method of dealing with. There was little freedom of 
movement ; the poor man's parish was virtually his prison, and if he 
left it to seek work elsewhere, and required help on the way, he was 
certain to be sent back to the place where he was legally settled. 

MODES OF LIFE, MANNERS, AND CUSTOMS. 

577. Dress. — In the time of Charles 11. and his successors the 
dress of the wealthy and fashionable classes was most elaborate and 
costly. Gentlemen wore their hair long, in ringlets, with an abundance 
of gold lace and ruffles, and carried long, slender swords, known as 
rapiers. Later, wigs came into use, and no man of any social standing 
thought of appearing without one. 

In Queen Anne's reign ladies painted their faces and ornamented 
them with minute black patches, which served not only for "beauty 
spots," but also showed, by their arrangement, with which political 
party they sympathized. 



DIVINE RIGHT OF KINGS AND PEOPLE. $0$ 



' . 



578. Coffee-Houses. — Up to the middle of the seventeenth cen- 
tury ale and beer were the common drink of all classes ; but about that 
time coffee was introduced, and coflee-houses became a fashionable 
resort for gentlemen and for all who wished to learn the news of the 
day. Tea had not yet come into use; but, in 1660, Pepys says in his 
diary : " Sept. 25. I did send for a cup of tee (a China drink) of which 
I never had drank before." 

579. The Streets of London. — No efficient police existed in 
London, and at night the streets were infested with brutal ruffians; and 
as late as Queen Anne's time, by bands of " fine gentlemen " not less 
brutal, who amused themselves by overturning sedan chairs, rolling 
women down hill in barrels, and compelling men to dance jigs, under the 
stimulus of repeated pricks from a circle of sword points, until they fell 
fainting from exhaustion. Duels were frequent, on the slightest provo- 
cation. Highwaymen abounded both in the city and without, and it 
was dangerous to travel any distance, even by day, without an armed 
guard. 

580. Brutal Laws. — Hanging was the common punishment for 
theft and many other crimes. The public whipping of both men and 
women through the streets was frequent. Debtors were shut up in 
prison, and left to beg from the passers-by or starve; and ordinary 
offenders were fastened in a wooden frame called the " pillory " and ex- 
posed on a stage where they were pelted by the mob, and their bones 
not infrequently broken with clubs and brickbats. The pillory con- 
tinued in use until the accession of Victoria in 1837. 



> 



306 LEADING FACTS OF ENGLISH HISTORY. 



" The history of England is emphatically the history of progress. It is the 
history of a constant movement of the public mind, of a constant change in 
the institutions of a great society." — Macaulay. 



INDIA GAINED; AMERICA LOST. — PARLIAMENTARY 
REFORM.— GOVERNMENT BY THE PEOPLE. 

THE HOUSE OF HANOVER, (1714.) TO THE PRESENT TIME. 

George I., 1714-1727. George IV., 1820-1830. 
George II., 1727-1760. William IV., 1830-1837. 
George III., 1760-1820. Victoria, 1837 

581. Accession of George I. — As Queen Anne died without 
leaving an heir to the throne, George, Elector of Hanover, now, 
in accordance with the Act of Settlement, 1 came into posses- 
sion of the English crown. The new king, however, was in no 
haste to leave the quiet little German court where he had passed 
his fifty-fourth birthday, and where he would have gladly spent 
the rest of his uneventful life. As he owed his new position to 
Whig legislation, he naturally favored that party and turned his 
back on the Tories, who, deprived of the sunshine of royal favor, 
were as unhappy as their rivals were jubilant. In fact, the reac- 
tion was so strong that the three Tory leaders were now impeached 
for treason, on the ground that they had intrigued to restore 
the fallen house of Stuart, and endeavored to make the Pre- 
tender king. Two of the three fled the country, and the third, 

1 Act of Settlement : see Paragraph No. 549. 



GOVERNMENT BY THE PEOPLE. 



307 



after a term of imprisonment in the Tower, was discharged without 
further punishment. 1 

582. Character of the New King. — The new sovereign was a 
selfish, coarse old man, who in private life would, as Lady Mon- 
tagu said, have passed for an honest blockhead. He neither 
knew anything about England, nor did he desire to know anything 
of it. He could not speak a word of the language of the 
country he was called to govern, and he made no attempt to 
learn it ; even the coronation service had to be explained to him 
as best it could, in such broken Latin as the ministers could mus- 
ter. Laboring under these disadvantages, his majesty wisely deter- 
mined not to try to take any active part in the affairs of the nation. 
He was a hearty eater and drinker, so that his table fcxercises took 
up a considerable portion of his time. Much of the rest he was 



1 The House of Hanover, also called Brunswick and Guelf. 



Charles I. 



James (Stuart) I. of England. 



Charles II. 



I , 

Mary, m. Anne. 
William III. 

of Orange, 
afterward Wil- 
liam III. of 
England. 



James II. 



Mary, m. Wil- 
liam II. of 
Orange. 
James (the ___.__. I TTT 

Old Pretend- William III. 
er),b. 1688, ° f 0ran £?' 
d. 1765. became Wil- 
[ J ham III. of 

Charles (the England, 1689. 
Young Pre- 
tender) , b. 
1720, d. 1788. 



Elizabeth, m. Frederick, 
Elector-Palatine,* and 
later king of Bohemia. 

Sophia, m. the Elector 
of Hanover, f 

George, Elector of 

Hanover, became 

George I. of England, 1714. 

George II. 

Frederick, Prince of Wales, 

(died before coming to the 

throne) . 

a 

George III. 

^ I > ■ 

George IV. William Edward, 

IV. Duke of ■ 
Kent, d. 1820. 

Victoria. 

* Elector-Palatine: a prince ruling over the territory called the Palatinate in Western Ger- 
many, on the Rhine. 

f Elector of Hanover : a prince ruling over the province of Hanover, a part of the German 
Empire, lying on the North Sea. The Elector received his title from the fact that he was one 
of seven princes who had the right of electing the German emperor. 



308 LEADING FACTS OF ENGLISH HISTORY, 

contented to spend quietly smoking his pipe, or playing cards 
and laughing at the caricature pictures of the English which the 
German ladies of his court cut out of paper for his amusement. 
As for politics, he let his Whig friends, with Sir Robert Walpole 
at the head, manage the country in their own way. Fortunately, 
the great body of the English people were abundantly able to take 
care of themselves. Voltaire said of them that they resembled a 
barrel of their own beer, froth at the top, dregs at the bottom, but 
thoroughly sound and wholesome in the middle. It was this mid- 
dle class, with their solid, practical good sense, that kept the 
nation right. They were by no means enthusiastic worshippers of 
the German king who had come to reign over them, but they saw 
one thing clearly : he might be as heavy, dull, and wooden as the 
figure-head of a ship, yet, like that figure-head, he stood for some- 
thing greater and better than himself, — for he represented Prot- 
estantism, with civil and religious liberty, — and so the people 
gave him their allegiance. 

583. Cabinet Government. — The present method of govern- 
ment dates from this reign. From the earliest period of English 
history the sovereign was accustomed to have a permanent coun- 
cil composed of some of the chief men of the realm, whom 
he consulted on all matters of importance. Charles II., either 
because he found this body inconveniently large for the rapid 
transaction of business, or else because he believed it inexpe- 
dient to discuss his plans with so many, selected a small confiden- 
tial committee from it. This committee met to consult with the 
king in his .cabinet, or private room, and so came to be called 
" the cabinet council," or briefly " the cabinet," a name which 
it has ever since retained. 

During Charles II. 's reign and that of his immediate successors 
the king continued to choose this special council from those whom 
he believed to be friendly to his measures, often without much 
regard to party lines, and he was alwavs present at their meetings. 
With the accession of George I., however, a great change took 



GOVERNMENT BY THE PEOPLE. 309 

place. His want of acquaintance with prominent men made it 
difficult for him to select a cabinet himself, and his ignorance of 
English rendered his presence at its meetings wholly useless. For 
these reasons the new king adopted the expedient of appointing a 
chief adviser, or prime minister, who chose his own cabinet from 
men of the political party to which he belonged. Thus Sir Rob- 
ert Walpole, the first prime minister, began that system (though 
not until the reign was far advanced) by which the executive 
affairs of the government are managed to-day. The cabinet, or 
" the government," as it is sometimes called, now generally consists 
of twelve or fifteen persons chosen by the prime minister, or pre- 
mier, 1 from the leading members of both Houses of Parliament, 
but whose political views agree in the main with the majority of 
the House of Commons. 2 This system, though not fully devel- 

1 Now generally called the premier (from the French premier ; first or chief). 

2 The existence of the Cabinet depends on custom, not law. Its members are 
never officially made known to the public, nor its proceedings recorded. Its meet- 
ings, which take place at irregular intervals, according to pressure .of business, are 
entirely secret, and the sovereign is never present. As the Cabinet agrees in its 
composition with the majority of the House of Commons, it follows that if the 
Commons are Conservative, the Cabinet will be so likewise ; and if Liberal, the 
reverse. Theoretically, the sovereign chooses the Cabinet ; but practically the se- 
lection is now always made by the prime minister. If at any time the Cabinet 
finds that its political policy no longer agrees with that of the House of Commons, 
it usually resigns, and the sovereign chooses a new prime minister from the oppo- 
site party, who forms a new Cabinet in harmony with himself and the Commons. 
If, however, the prime minister has good reason for believing that a different 
House of Commons would support him, the sovereign may, by his advice, dissolve 
Parliament. A new election then takes place, and according to the political char- 
acter of the members returned, the Cabinet remains in, or goes out of, power,. 
The Cabinet now invariably includes the following officers : — 

1. The First Lord of the Treasury 7. The Secretary of State for Foreign 

(Usually the Prime Minister). Affairs. 

2. The Lord Chancellor. 8. The Secretary of State for the Colo- 

3. The Lord President of the Council. nies. 

4. The Lord Privy Seal. 9. The Secretary of State for India. 

5. The Chancellor of the Exchequer. 10. The Secretary of State for War. 

6. The Secretary of State for Home 11. The First Lord of the Admiralty. 

Affairs. 
In addition, a certain number of other officers of the government are frequently 
included, making the whole number about twelve or fifteen. 



310 LEADING FACTS OF ENGLISH HISTORY. 

oped until the reign of George III., had become so well estab- 
lished when George II. came to the throne, that he said, "In 
England the ministers are king." If he could have looked for- 
ward, he would have seen that the time was coming when the 
House of Commons would be king, since no ministry or cabinet 
can now stand which does not have the confidence and support 
of the Commons. 

584. The "Pretender"; "the Fifteen." — The fact that 
George I. exclusively favored the Whigs exasperated the opposite, 
or Tory, party, and the Jacobites or extreme members of that 
party x in Scotland, with the secret aid of many in England, now 
rose, in the hope of placing on the throne the son of James II., 
James Edward Stuart, called the Chevalier 2 by his friends, but the 
Pretender by his enemies. The insurrection was led by John, Earl 
of Mar, who, from his frequent change of politics, had got the 
nickname of " Bobbing John." Mar encountered the royal forces 
at Sheriffmuir, in Perthshire, Scotland, where an indecisive battle 
was fought, which the old ballad thus describes : — 

" There's some say that we won, and some say that they won, 
And some say that none won at a', man ; 
But one thing is sure, that at Sheriffmuir 
A battle there was, which I saw, man." 

On the same day of the fight at Sheriffmuir, the English Jaco- 
bites, with a body of Scotch allies, marched into Preston, Lanca- 
shire, and there surrendered, almost without striking a blow. The 
leaders of the movement, except the Earl of Mar, who, with one 
or two others, escaped to the continent, were beheaded or hanged, 
and about a thousand of the rank and file were sold as slaves to 
the West India and Virginia plantations. The Pretender himself 
landed in Scotland a few weeks after the defeat of his friends ; but 

1 See Paragraph No. 547. 

2 The Chevalier de St. George ; after the birth of his son Charles in 1720, the 
former was known by the nickname of the Old Pretender, and the son as the Young 
Pretender. 



GOVERNMENT BY THE PEOPLE. 311 

finding no encouragement he hurried back to the continent again. 
Thus ended the rebellion known from the year of its outbreak 
(1715) as "the Fifteen." 

One result of this rising was the* passage of an act extending the 
duration of Parliament from three years, which was the longest 
time that body could sit, to seven years, a law still in force. 1 The 
object of this change was to do away with the excitement and 
tendency to rebellion at that time, resulting from frequent elec- 
tions, in which party feeling ran to dangerous extremes. 

585. The South Sea Bubble. — A few years later a gigantic 
enterprise was undertaken by the South Sea Company, a body of 
merchants, originally organized as a company trading in the south- 
ern Atlantic and Pacific oceans. A Scotchman named Law had 
started a similar project in France, known as the Mississippi 
Company, which proposed to pay off the national debt of France 
from the profits of its commerce with the West Indies and the 
country bordering on the Mississippi River. Following his exam- 
ple, the South Sea Company now undertook to pay off the English 
national debt, mainly, it is said, from the profits of the slave 
trade between Africa and Brazil. 2 Walpole had no faith in the 
scheme, and attacked it vigorously ; but other influential members 
of the government gave it their encouragement. The directors 
now came out with prospectuses promising dividends of fifty per 
cent on all money invested. Everybody rushed to buy stock, 
and the shares rapidly advanced from $500 to $5000 a share. 
A speculative craze followed, the like of which has never since 
been known. Bubble companies now sprang into existence with 
objects almost as absurd as those of the philosophers whom Swift 

1 The Triennial Act provided that at the end of three years Parliament must be 
dissolved and a new election held. This was to prevent the sovereign from keep- 
ing that body in power indefinitely, contrary, perhaps, to the political feeling of the 
country, which might prefer a different set of representatives. Under the Septen- 
nial Act the time was extended four years, making seven in all, but the sovereign 
may, of course, dissolve Parliament at any time before that limit is reached. 

2 Loftie's History of London. 



312 LEADING FACTS OF ENGLISH HISTORY. 

ridiculed in " Gulliver's Travels," where one man was trying to 
make gunpowder out of ice, and another to extract sunbeams 
from cucumbers. A mere list of these companies would fill sev- 
eral pages. One was to give instruction in astrology, by which 
every man might be able to foretell his own destiny by examining 
the stars ; a second was to manufacture butter out of beech-trees ; 
a third was for a wheel for driving machinery, which once started 
would go on forever, thereby furnishing a cheap perpetual motion ; 
a fourth projector, going beyond all the rest in audacity, had the 
impudence to offer stock for sale in an enterprise " which shall 
be revealed hereafter." He found the public so gullible and 
so greedy for gain, that he sold $10,000 worth of the new stock 
in the course of a single morning, and then prudently disap- 
peared with the cash, though where, as the unfortunate investors 
found to their sorrow, was not among the things to " be revealed 
hereafter." 

The narrow passage leading to the stock exchange was crowded 
all day long with struggling fortune hunters, both men and women. 
Suddenly, when the excitement was at its height, the bubble burst, 
as Law's scheme in France had a little earlier. 

Great numbers of people were hopelessly ruined, and the cry 
for vengeance was as- loud as the bids for stocks had once been. 
One prominent government official who had helped to blow the 
bubble was sent to the Tower, and another committed suicide 
rather than face a parliamentary committee of investigation, one 
of whose members had suggested that it would be an excellent 
plan to sew the South Sea directors up in sacks and throw them 
into the Thames. 

586. How a Terrible Disease was conquered. — But among 
the new things which the people were to try in this century was 
one which led to most beneficent results. For many generations 
the great scourge of Europe was the small-pox. Often the disease 
was as violent as the plague, and carried off nearly as many vic- 
tims. Medical art seemed powerless to deal with it, and even 



GOVERNMENT BY THE PEOPLE. 313 

in years of ordinary health in England about one person out of ten 
died of this loathsome pestilence. In the early part of George I.'s 
reign, Lady Mary Montagu, then travelling in Turkey, wrote that 
the Turks were in the habit of inoculating their children for the 
disease, which rendered it much milder and less fatal, and that 
she was about to try the experiment on her own son. 

Later, Lady Montagu returned to England, and through her 
influence and example the practice was introduced there. It was 
tried first on five criminals in Newgate who had been sentenced to 
the gallows, but were promised their freedom if they would con- 
sent to the operation. As it proved a complete success, the Prin- 
cess of Wales, with the king's consent, caused it to be tried on her 
daughter, with equally good results. The medical profession, how- 
ever, generally refused to sanction the practice, and the clergy in 
many cases preached against it as an "invention of Satan, in- 
tended to counteract the purposes of an all-wise Providence" 
but through the perseverance and good sense of Lady Montagu, 
with a few others, the new practice gradually gained ground. Sub- 
sequently Dr. Jenner began to make experiments of a different 
kind which led late in the century to the discovery of vaccination, 
by which millions of lives have been saved ; this, with the dis- 
covery of the use of ether in our own time, may justly be called 
the two greatest triumphs of the art of medicine. 

587. How Walpole governed. — Robert Walpole had been a 
member of the Cabinet during most of the reign down to 1721. 
He then became premier, and continued in office as head of the 
government until near the middle of the next reign, or about 
twenty-one years in all. He was an able financier, and suc- 
ceeded in reducing the National Debt ; he believed in keeping 
the country out of war, and also, as we have seen, out of bubble 
speculation, but he was determined at all cost to maintain the 
Whig party in power, and the Protestant Hanoverian sovereigns 
on the throne. 

In order to accomplish this, he openly bribed members of Par- 



314 LEADING FACTS OF ENGLISH HISTORY. 

liament to support his party ; he bought votes and carried elec- 
tions by gifts of titles, honors, and bank-notes, thus proving to his 
own satisfaction the truth of his theory that most men " have their 
price," and that an appeal to the pocket-book is both quicker and 
surer than an appeal to principle. But he had to confess 
before the end of his ministry that he had found in the House 
of Commons one "boy patriot," as he sneeringly called him, 
named William Pitt (afterward Earl of Chatham), whom neither 
his money could buy nor his ridicule move. 

Bad as Walpole's policy was in its corrupting influence on the 
nation, it was an admission that the time had come when the king 
could no longer venture to rule by force, as in the days of the 
Stuarts : it meant that the government had been deprived of the 
arbitrary power it once wielded. Walpole was a fox, not a lion ; 
and " foxes," as Emerson tells us, " are so cunning because they 
are not strong." 

588. Summary. — Though George I. did little for England 
except keep the Pretender from the throne by occupying it him- 
self, yet that was no small advantage, since it gave the country 
peace. The establishment of the cabinet system of government 
under Sir Robert Walpole, the suppression of the Jacobite insur- 
rection, and the disastrous collapse of the South Sea Bubble are 
the principal events. 

GEORGE II.— 1727-1760. 

589. Accession and Character. — The second George, who 
was also of German birth, was much like his father, though he had 
the advantage of being able to speak broken English readily. His 
wife, Queen Caroline, was an able woman, who possessed the 
happy art of ruling her husband without his suspecting it, while 
she, on the other hand, was ruled by Sir Robert Walpole, whom 
the king hated, but whom he had to keep as prime minister. 
George II. was a good soldier, and decidedly preferred war to 
peace ; but Walpole saw clearly that the peace policy was best for 
the nation, and he and the queen managed to persuade the king 
not to draw the sword. 



GOVERNMENT BY THE PEOPLE. 315 

590. The War of Jenkins's Ear. — At the end of twelve years, 
however, trouble arose with Spain. According to the London 
newspapers of that day, a certain Captain Jenkins, while cruising, 
or, more probably, smuggling, in the West Indies, had been 
seized by the Spaniards and barbarously maltreated. They, if we 
accept his story, accused him of attempting to land English 
goods contrary to law, and searched his ship. Finding nothing 
against him, they vented their rage and disappointment by hang- 
ing him to the yard-arm of his vessel until he was nearly dead. 
They then tore off one of his ears, and bade him take it to the 
king of England with their compliments. Jenkins, it is said, care- 
fully wrapped up his ear and put it in his pocket. When he 
reached England, he went straight to the House of Commons, 
drew out the mutilated ear, showed it to the House, and de- 
manded justice. The Spanish restrictions on English trade with 
the Indies and South America 1 had long been a source of ill feel- 
ing. The sight of Jenkins's ear brought matters to a climax ; even 
Walpole could not resist the clamor for vengeance, and contrary to 
his own judgment he had to vote for war. Though Jenkins was 
the occasion, the real object of the war was to compel Spain to 
permit the English to get a larger share in the lucrative commerce 
of the New World. It was another proof that America was now 
rapidly becoming an important factor in the politics of Great 
Britain. The announcement of hostilities with Spain was received 
in London with delight, and bells pealed from every steeple. 
"Yes," said Walpole, "they may ring the bells now, but before 
long they will be wringing their hands," — a prediction which was 
verified by the heavy losses the English suffered in an expedition 
against Carthagena, South America, though later Commodore 
Anson inflicted great damage on the Spanish colonies, and 
returned to England with large amounts of captured treasure. 



1 By the Assiento (contract) Treaty, made at Utrecht in 1713, one English ship 
of 600 tons burden was allowed to make one trading voyage a year to the colonies 
of Spanish America. 



3l6 LEADING FACTS OF ENGLISH HISTORY. 

591. War of the Austrian Succession. — On the death of 

Charles VI. of the house of Austria, emperor of Germany, his 
daughter Maria Theresa succeeded to the Austrian dominions. 
France now united with Spain, Prussia, and other European 
powers to overturn this arrangement, partly out of jealousy of 
the Austrian power, and partly from desire to get control of 
portions of the Austrian possessions. England and Holland, how- 
ever, both desired to maintain Austria as a check against their 
old enemy France, and declared war in 1741. During this war 
George II. went over to the continent to lead the English forces 
in person. He was not a man of commanding appearance, but 
he was every inch a soldier, and nothing exhilarated him like the 
smell of gunpowder. At the battle of Dettingen, in Bavaria, he 
got down from his horse, and drawing his sword, cried : " Come, 
boys, now behave like men, and the French will soon run." With 
that, followed by his troops, he rushed upon the ene*my with such 
impetuosity that they turned and fled. This was the last battle in 
which an English king took part. It was followed by that of 
Fontenoy, in the Netherlands, in which the French gained the 
victory. After nearly eight years' fighting the Treaty of Aix la 
Chapelle secured a peace advantageous for England. 1 

592. Invasion by the Young Pretender; "the Forty-Five." 2 

— While the war of the Austrian Succession was in progress, 
the French encouraged James II. 's grandson, Charles Edward, 
the Young Pretender, 3 to make an attempt on the English 
crown. He landed in 1745 on the northern coast of Scotland 
with only seven followers, but with the aid of the Scotch Jacobites 
of the Highlands he gained a battle over the English at Preston- 
pans, near Edinburgh. Emboldened by his success, he now 
marched into Derbyshire, England, on his way to London, with 
the hope, that as he advanced, the country would rise in his 

1 Aix la Chapelle (Aks-la-sha pel'). 

2 So called from the Scotch rising of 1745. 
8 See note to Paragraph No. 584. 



GOVERNMENT BY THE PEOPLE. 317 

favor; but finding no support, he retreated to Scotland. The 
next year he and his adherents were defeated with great slaugh- 
ter at Culloden, near Inverness. With the flight of the Pretender 
from that battle-field, his Scotch sympathizers lost all hope. 
There were no more ringing Jacobite songs, sung over bowls of 
steaming punch, of "Who'll be king but Charlie?" and " Over 
the water to Charlie " ; and when in 1788 Charles died in Rome, 
the unfortunate house of Stuart disappeared from history." 1 

/ 593. War in the East; the Black Hole of Calcutta; Clive's 
Victories; English Empire of India. — In India the English had 
long had important trading-posts at Madras, Bombay, Calcutta, 
and other points, but they had not had control of the country, which 
was governed by native princes. The French also had established 
an important trading-post at Pondicherry, south of Madras, and 
were now secretly planning through alliance with the native rulers 
to get possession of the entire country. They had met with 
some success in their efforts, and the times seemed to favor their 
gaining still greater influence unless some decided measures 
should be taken to prevent them. At this juncture Robert 
Clive, a young man who had been employed as clerk in the 
service of the English East India Company, but who had 
obtained a humble position in the army, obtained permission 
to try his hand at driving back the enemy. It was the very work 
for which he was fitted. He met with success from the first, 
and he followed it up by the splendid victory of Arcot (1751), 
which practically gave the English control of Southern India. 
Shortly after that Clive returned to England. During his absence 
the native prince of Bengal undertook an expedition against 

1 Devoted loyalty to a hopeless cause was never more truly or pathetically 
expressed than in some of these Jacobite songs, notably in those of Scotland, of 
which the following lines are an example : — 

" Over the water, and over the sea, 
And over the water to Charlie; 
Come weal, come woe, we'll gather and go, 
And live or die with Charlie." — See Scott's Redgauntlet. 



318 LEADING FACTS OF ENGLISH HISTORY. 

Calcutta, a wealthy British trading-post. He captured the fort 
which protected it, and seizing the principal English residents, 
one hundred and forty-six in number, drove them at the point 
of the sword into a prison called the " Black Hole," less than 
twenty feet square and having but two small windows. In such 
a climate, in the fierce heat of midsummer, that dungeon would 
have been too close for a single European captive ; to crowd it 
with more than seven score persons for a night meant death by 
all the agonies of heat, thirst, and suffocation. In vain they 
endeavored to bribe the guard to transfer part of them to another 
room, in vain they begged for mercy and tried to burst the door. 
Their jailers only mocked them and would do nothing. Then, 
says Macaulay, "the prisoners went mad with despair; they 
trampled each other down, they fought to get at the windows, 
they fought for the pittance of water which was given them, they 
raved, prayed, blasphemed, and implored the guards to fire upon 
them. At length the tumult died away in low gasps and moan- 
ings. When daylight came and the dungeon was opened, the 
floor was heaped with mutilated half-putrescent corpses. Out 
of the hundred and forty-six, one of whom was a woman, only 
twenty-three were alive, and they were so changed, so feeble, 
so ghastly, that their own mothers would not have known them." 
When Clive returned he was met with a cry for vengeance. He 
gathered his troops, recovered Calcutta, and ended by fighting that 
great battle of Plassey (1757), which was the means of permanently 
establishing the English empire in India on a firm foundation. 1 

594. The Seven Years' War in Europe and America.— Before 

the contest had closed by which England won her Asiatic domin- 
ions, a new war had broken out. In 1756, the fifth year of the 
New Style, 2 the aggressive designs of Frederick the Great of 

1 See Macaulay's Essay on Clive. 

2 In 1752 the New Style of reckoning time was introduced into Great Britain. 
Owing to a slight error in the calendar, the year had, in the course of centuries, 
been gradually losing, so that in 1752 it was eleven days short of what the true 
computation would make it. Pope Gregory corrected the error in 1582, and his 



NO. 14. 




5 



JV 



SKETCH MAP CF 

OD IA 

SCALE OF MILES 

100 200 300 400 500 600 

The shaded portion in the north- 
east shoivs the territory acquired 
oy theJEnglish in 1765 as a result of 
dive's victory at-Plassey. in 1757. 



longitude East "" 80 from Greeirwii3h 



90 



•> face page 3I8. 



GOVERNMENT BY THE PEOPLE. 319 

Prussia caused such alarm that a grand alliance was formed 
by France, Russia, Austria, and Poland to check his further 
advance. Great Britain, however, gave her support to Fred- 
erick, in the hope of humbling her old enemy France, who, in 
addition to her attempts to oust the English from India, was 
also making preparations on a grand scale to get possession of 
America. Every victory, therefore, which the British forces could 
gain in Europe would, by crippling the French, make the ultimate 
victory in America so much the more certain ; so that we may 
look upon the alliance with Frederick as an indirect means em- 
ployed by England to protect her colonies on the other side of the 
Atlantic. These had now extended along the entire coast, from 
the Kennebec River, in Maine, to the borders of Florida. 

The French, on the other hand, had planted colonies at Quebec 
and Montreal, on the St. Lawrence ; at Detroit, on the Great 
Lakes; at New Orleans and other points on the Mississippi. 
They had also begun to build a line of forts along the Ohio River, 
which, when completed, would connect their northern and south- 
ern colonies, and thus secure to them the whole country west 
of the Alleghanies. Eventually, they undoubtedly expected to 
conquer the East also, to erase Virginia, New England, and all 
other colonial titles from the map, inscribing in their place the 
name of New France. 

During the first part of the war, the English were unsuccessful. 
In an attempt to take Fort Duquesne, 1 General Braddock met 
with a crushing defeat from the combined French and Indian 
forces, which would indeed have proved his utter destruction had 
not a young Virginian named George Washington saved a rem- 

calendar was adopted in nearly every country of Europe except Great Britain 
and Russia, both of which regarded the change as a "popish measure." But 
in 1751, notwithstanding the popular outcry, Sept. 3, 1752, was made Sept. 14, 
by an act of Parliament, and by the same act the beginning of the year was altered 
from March 25 to Jan. 1. The popular clamor against the reform is illustrated 
in Hogarth's picture of an Election Feast, in which the People's party carry a 
banner, with the inscription, " Give us back our eleven days." 
1 Duquesne (Doo kane'). 



320 LEADING FACTS OF ENGLISH HISTORY. 

nant of his troops by his calmness and courage. Not long after, 
a second expedition was sent out against the French fort, in which 
Washington led the advance. The garrison fled at his approach, 
the English colors were run up, and the place was named Pitts- 
burgh, in honor of William Pitt, then virtually prime minister of 
England. 1 

About the same time, the English took the forts on the Bay of 
Fundy, and drove out a number of thousand French settlers from 
Acadia. 2 This gave them control of Nova Scotia. Other succes- 
ses followed, by which they obtained possession of important 
points. Finally, Canada was won from the French by Wolfe's 
victory over Montcalm, at Quebec (1759), where both gallant 
soldiers verified the truth of the lines, " The paths of glory lead 
but to the grave," 3 which the English general had quoted to some 
brother-officers the evening before the attack. This ended the 
war. Spain now ceded Florida to Great Britain, so that in 1763, 
when peace was made, the English flag waved over the whole 
eastern half of the American continent, from the Atlantic to the 
Mississippi. Thus, within a comparatively few years, Great Bri- 
tain had gained an empire in the East (India), and another in 
the West (America) . A few more such conquests and her " morn- 
ing drum-beat, following the sun, and keeping company with the 
hours " would literally " circle the earth with one continuous and 
unbroken strain of the martial airs of England." 4 

1 He was secretary of state, but in point of influence was head of the Cabinet. 
See Paragraph No. 587. 

2 See The Leading Facts of American History, page 320, and note. 

The boast of heraldry, the pomp of power, 
And all that beauty, all that wealth e'er gave, 
Await alike the inevitable hour ; 
The paths of glory lead but to the grave." 

— Gray's Elegy (1750). 

" I would rather be the author of that poem," said Wolfe, " than to have the glory 
of beating the French to-morrow." Wolfe and Montcalm were both mortally 
wounded, and died within a few hours of each other. 
4 Daniel Webster, speech of May 7, 1834. 



GOVERNMENT BY THE PEOPLE. 321 

595. Moral Condition of England; Intemperance; Rise of 
the Methodists. — But grand as were the military successes of 
the British arms, the reign of George II. was morally torpid. With 
the exception of a few public men like Pitt, the majority of the 
Whig party seemed animated by no higher motive than self- 
interest. It was an age whose want of faith, coarseness, and bru- 
tality were well portrayed by Hogarth's pencil and Fielding's pen. 
For a long time intemperance had been steadily on the increase ; 
strong drink had taken the place of beer, and every attempt to 
restrict the traffic was met at the elections by the popular cry, 
" No gin, no king." The London taverns were thronged day and 
night, and in the windows of those frequented by the lowest class 
placards were exhibited with the tempting announcement, " Drunk 
for a penny ; dead drunk for twopence ; clean straw for nothing." 
On the straw lay men and women in beastly helplessness. Among 
the upper classes matters were hardly better. It was a common 
thing for great statesmen to drink at public dinners until one by 
one they slid out of their seats and disappeared under the table ; 
and Robert Walpole, the late prime minister of England, said 
that when he was a young man his father would say to him as he 
poured out the wine, " Come, Robert, you shall drink twice while 
I drink once, for I will not permit the son in his sober senses to 
be witness of the intoxication of his father." 1 

Such was the condition of England when a great religious re- 
vival began. Its leader was a student at Oxford, named John 
Wesley. He, with his brother Charles and a few others, were 
accustomed to meet at certain hours for devotional exercises. 
The regularity of their meetings and of their habits generally got 
for them the name of Methodists, which, like Quaker and many 
another nickname of the kind, was destined to become a title of 
respect and honor. 

At first Wesley had no intention of separating from the Church 



1 See Coxe's Memoirs of Sir Robert Walpole, and Lecky's England in the 
Eighteenth Century. 



322 LEADING FACTS OF ENGLISH HISTORY. 

of England, but labored only to quicken it to new life ; eventually, 
however, he found it best to begin a more extended and inde- 
pendent movement. The revival swept over England with its 
regenerating influence, and extended across the sea to America 
It was especially powerful among those who had hitherto scoffed 
at both church and Bible. Rough and hardened men were 
touched and melted to tears of repentance by the fervor of this 
Oxford graduate, whom neither threats nor ridicule could turn 
aside from his one great purpose of saving souls. 

Unlike the church, he did not ask the multitude to come to 
him ; he went to them. He rode on horseback from one end of 
the country to the other, preaching in the fields, under trees, which 
are still known throughout England by the expressive name of 
"Gospel Oaks," in cities, at the corners of the streets, on the 
docks, in the slums ; in fact, wherever he could find listening ears 
and responsive hearts. 

If we except the great Puritan movement of the seventeenth 
century, no such appeal had been heard since the days when 
Augustine and his band of monks set forth on their mission among 
the barbarous Saxons. The results answered fully to the zeal that 
awakened them. Better than the growing prosperity of extending 
commerce, better than all the conquests in the East or the West, 
was the new religious spirit which stirred the people of both 
England and America, and provoked the national church to emu- 
lation in good works, — which planted schools, checked intem- 
perance, and brought into vigorous activity all that was best and 
bravest in a race that when true to itself is excelled by none. 

596. Summary. — The history of the reign may be summed 
up in the movement which has just been described, and in the 
Asiatic, continental, and American wars with France which ended 
in the extension of the power of Great Britain in both hemi- 
spheres. 






GOVERNMENT BY THE PEOPLE. 323 

V 

GEORGE III.— 1760-1820. 

v 

597. Accession and Character ; the King's Struggle with the 
Whigs. — By the death of George II. his grandson, 1 George III., 
now came to the throne. The new king was a man of excellent 
character, who prided himself on having been born an English- 
man. He had the best interests of his country at heart, but he 
lacked many of the qualities necessary to a great ruler, and although 
thoroughly conscientious, he was narrow and stubborn to the last 
degree. His mother, who had seen how ministers and parties 
ruled in England, was determined that her son should have the 
control, and her constant injunction to the young prince was, " Be 
king, George, be king ! " so that when he came to power George 
was determined to be king if self-will would make him one. 

But beneath this spirit of self-will there was moral principle. 
In being king, George III. intended to carry out a reform such as 
neither George I. nor II. could have accomplished, providing that 
either had had the will to undertake it. 

The great Whig families of rank and wealth had now held unin- 
terrupted possession of the government for nearly half a century. 
Their influence was so supreme that the sovereign had practically 
become a mere cipher, dependent for his authority on the political 
support which he received. The king was resolved that this state 
of things should continue no longer. He was determined to reas- 
sert the royal authority and secure a government which should 
reflect his principles, and to have a ministry to whom he could 
dictate, instead of one that dictated to him. 

For a long time he struggled in vain, but at last succeeded, 
and found in Lord North a premier who bowed to the royal will, 
and endeavored to carry out George III.'s favorite policy of "gov- 
erning for, but never by, the people." That policy finally resulted 
in calling forth the famous resolution of the House of Commons 

1 Frederick, Prince of Wales, George II.'s son, died before his father, leaving 
his son George heir to the throne. See Table, Paragraph No. 581. 



324 LEADING FACTS OF ENGLISH HISTORY. 

that the king's influence "had increased, was increasing, and 
ought to be diminished" ; * but it had other consequences, which, 
as we shall presently see, were more far-reaching and disastrous 
than any one in the House of Commons then imagined. 

' 598. Taxation of the American Colonies. — The wars of the 
two preceding reigns had largely increased the National Debt, and 
the government resolved to compel the American colonies to share 
in a more direct degree than they had yet done, the constantly 
increasing burden of taxation. England then, like all other Euro- 
pean countries, regarded her colonies in a totally different way 
from what she does at present. It was an open question at that 
time whether colonial legislative rights existed save as a matter of 
concession or favor on the part of the home government. It is 
true that the government had found it expedient to grant or 
recognize such rights, but they had seldom been very clearly 
defined, and in many important respects no one knew just what 
the settlers of Virginia or Massachusetts might or might not do. 2 
The general theory of the mother country was that the colonies 
were convenient receptacles for the surplus population, good or 
bad, of the British Islands ; next, that they were valuable as sources 
of revenue and profit, politically and commercially ; and lastly, 
that they furnished excellent opportunities for the king's friends to 
get office and make fortunes. Such was the feeling about India, 
and such, modified by difference of circumstances, it was respect- 
ing America. In consequence of this feeling, the policy pursued 
toward these settlements was severely restrictive. By the Navi- 
gation and other laws of earlier reigns, 3 the American colonies 
were obliged to confine their trade to England alone, or to such 
ports as she directed. If they ventured to send a hogshead of 
tobacco or a bale of produce of any sort to another country, or 



1 Resolution moved by Mr. Dunning in 1780. 

2 See Story's Constitution of the United States. 

3 Navigation Laws : see Paragraph No. 511. 



GOVERNMENT BY THE PEOPLE. 325 

by any but an English ship, they forfeited their goods. 1 On the 
other hand, the colonies were obliged to buy the products of 
British mills and factories, whether they found it to their advan- 
tage or not; the object of the government being to keep the 
colonies wholly dependent. 

They were not permitted to make so much as a horse-shoe nail 
or print even a copy of the New Testament, but they might, nay, 
they must, trade with England and pay taxes to her. 

It was resistance to these arbitrary measures which first caused 
trouble. In the reign of Charles II. the colonies endeavored to 
evade these oppressive laws. To punish them that monarch 
revoked the New England charters, thus depriving them of what- 
ever degree of self-government they enjoyed, and compelling them 
to submit to the absolute will of the crown. Under the tyrannical 
sway of Governor Andros, who was shortly after sent over by James 
II. to rule, or rather misrule, in the king's name, an explosion 
of popular wrath occurred which showed that, loyal as the colonies 
were, they would not continue to endure treatment which no 
Englishman at home would bear. 

599. The Stamp Act. — In accordance with these theories 
about the colonies, and to meet the pressing needs of the home 
government, the English ministry, as early as 1 764, proceeded to levy 
a tax on the colonies in return for the protection they had granted 
them against the French and the Indians. The colonists had paid, 
however, as they believed, their full proportion of the expense of 
the war out of their own pockets, and for the future they felt abun- 
dantly able to protect themselves. But notwithstanding this plea, 
a specially obnoxious form of direct tax, called the Stamp Act, was 
brought forward in 1 765. It required that all legal documents, such 
as deeds, wills, notes, receipts, and the like, should be written upon 
paper bearing high-priced government stamps. Not only the lead- 
ing men among the colonists, but the colonists generally, protested 

1 This was the case with all produce of any importance ; the exceptions need 
not be enumerated. 



326 LEADING FACTS OF ENGLISH HISTORY. 

against the act, and Benjamin Franklin, with other agents, was 
sent to England to sustain their protests by argument and remon- 
strance. But in spite of their efforts the law was passed, and the 
stamps were duly sent over. The people, however, were deter- 
mined not to use them, and much tumult ensued. In England 
strong sympathy with the colonists was expressed by William Pitt 
(who was shortly after created Earl of Chatham), Burke, Fox, and 
generally by what was well called " the brains of Parliament." 
Pitt in particular was extremely indignant. He urged the imme- 
diate repeal of the act, saying, " I rejoice that America has re- 
sisted." Pitt further declared that any taxation of the colonies 
without their representation in Parliament was tyranny, that oppo- 
sition to such taxation was a duty, and that the spirit shown by the 
Americans was the same that in England had withstood the des- 
potism of the Stuarts, and established the principle once for all 
that the king cannot take the subject's money without the subject's 
consent. Against such opposition the law could not stand. The 
act was accordingly repealed, amid great rejoicing in London ; the 
church bells rang a peal of triumph, and the shipping in the 
Thames was illuminated ; but the good effect on America was lost 
by the immediate passage of another act which maintained the 
unconditional right of England to legislate for the colonies, or, in 
other words, to tax them, if they saw fit, without their consent. 

600. The Tea Tax and the "Boston Tea Party," with its 

Results. — Another plan was now devised for getting money 
from the colonies. Parliament enacted a law compelling the 
Americans to pay taxes on a number of imports, such as glass, 
-paper, and tea. In opposition to this law, the colonists formed 
leagues refusing to use these taxed articles, while at the same time 
they encouraged smugglers to secretly land them, and the regular 
trade suffered accordingly. Parliament, finding that this was bad 
both for the government and for commerce, now abolished all of 
these duties except that on tea, which was retained for a double 
purpose ; first, and chiefly, to maintain the principle of the right 



GOVERNMENT BY THE PEOPLE. 327 

of Great Britain to tax the colonies, 1 and next, to aid the East 
India Company, which was pleading piteously for help. 

In consequence mainly of the refusal of the American colonists 
to buy tea, the London warehouses of the East India Company 
were full to overflowing with surplus stock, and the company itself 
was in a half-bankrupt condition. The custom had been for the 
company to bring the tea to England, pay a tax on it, and then 
sell it to be reshipped to America, where the colonists were ex- 
pected to pay a tax. To aid the company in its embarrassment, 
the government now agreed to remit this first duty altogether, and 
to impose a tax of threepence (six cents) a pound on the con- 
sumers in America. Such an arrangement would, they argued, 
be an advantage all around, for first, it would aid the company to 
dispose of its stock, next, it would enable the colonists to get tea 
at a cheaper rate than before, and lastly, and most important of 
all, it would keep the principle of taxation in force. But the 
colonists did not accept this reasoning. In itself the three-penny 
tax was a trifle, but underlying it was a principle which seemed to 
the Americans no trifle ; for such principles revolutions had been 
fought in the past ; for such they would be fought in the future. 

The colonists resolved not to have the tea at any price. A 
number of ships laden with the hated taxed herb arrived at the 
port of Boston. The tea was seized by a band of men disguised 
as Indians, and thrown into the harbor. The news of that action, 
made the king and ministry furious. Parliament sympathized 
with the government, and in retaliation passed four acts unparal-' 
leled for their severity. The first was the Boston Port Bill, which 
closed the harbor to all trade ; the second was the Massachusetts 
Bill, which virtually annulled the charter of the colony, took the 
government away from the people and gave it to the king ; the 
third law ordered that Americans who committed murder in 
resistance to the iaw should be sent to England for trial; the 
fourth declared the country north of the Ohio and east of the 

1 " There must be one tax," said the king, " to keep up the right." 



328 LEADING FACTS OF ENGLISH HISTORY. 

Mississippi a part of Canada l — the object of this last act being 
to conciliate the French Canadians, and secure their help against 
the colonists in case of rebellion. 

Even after this unjust action on the part of the government a 
compromise might have been effected, and peace maintained, if 
the counsels of the best men had been followed ; but George III. 
would listen to no policy short of coercion : his one idea of being 
king at all hazards had 'become a monomania. Burke denounced 
the inexpediency of such oppression, and Fox, another prominent 
member of Parliament, wrote : " It is intolerable to think that 
it should be in the power of one blockhead to do so much mis- 
chief." For the time, at least, the king was as unreasonable as 
any of the Stuarts. The obstinacy of,Charles I. cost him his head, 
that of James II., his kingdom, that of George III. resulted in a 
war which saddled the English tax-payer with an additional debt 
of six hundred millions of dollars, and ended by Great Britain's 
losing the fairest and richest dominions that she or any nation 
ever possessed. 

601. The American Revolution; Recognition of the Inde- 
pendence of the United States. — In 1775 war began, and the 
fighting at Lexington and Bunker Hill showed that the Americans 
were in earnest. The cry of the colonies had been, " No taxation 
without representation " ; now it had got beyond that, and was, 
"No legislation without representation." But events moved so 
fast that even this did not long suffice, and on July 4, 1776, the 
colonies, in congress assembled, solemnly declared themselves free 
and independent. As far back as the French war there was at 
least one man who foresaw this declaration. After the English 
had taken Quebec, Vergennes, 2 an eminent French statesman, said 
of the American colonies with respect to Great Britain, "They 
stand no longer in need of her protection ; she will call on them 

1 Embracing territory now divided into the five States of Ohio, Indiana, Illinois, 
Michigan, and Wisconsin. 

2 Vergennes (Ver'zhen'). 



GOVERNMENT BY THE PEOPLE. 329 

to contribute toward supporting the burdens they have helped to 
bring on her; and they will answer by striking off all depend- 
ence." 1 

This prophecy was now fulfilled. Then the English ministry 
became alarmed, they were ready to make terms, they would in 
fact grant anything but independence ;* but they had opened their 
eyes to the facts too late, and nothing short of independence 1 
would now satisfy the colonists. It is said that attempts were 
made to open negotiations with General Washington, but the 
commander-in-chief declined to receive a letter from the English 
government addressed to him, not in his official capacity, but as 
" George Washington, Esq.," and so the matter came to nothing. 
The war went on with varying success through seven heavy years, 
until, with the aid of the French, the Americans defeated Lord 
Cornwallis at Yorktown in 1781. 2 By that battle France got her 
revenge for the loss of Quebec in 1759, and America finally 
won the cause for which she had spent so much life and treas- 
ure. 

On a foggy December morning in 1782, George III. entered 
the House of Lords, and with a faltering voice read a paper in which 
he acknowledged the independence of the United States of America. 
He closed his reading with the prayer that neither Great Britain nor 
America might suffer from the separation ; and he expressed the 
hope that religion, language, interest, and affection might prove 
an effectual bond of union between the two countries. Eventu- 
ally the separation proved, as Goldwin Smith says, 3 "a mutual 
advantage, since it removed to a great extent the arbitrary restric- 
tions on trade, gave a new impetus to commerce, and immensely 
increased the wealth of both nations." 

1 Bancroft's History of the United States. 

2 It is pleasant to know that a hundred years later, in the autumn of 1881, a 
number of English gentlemen were present at the centennial celebration of the 
taking of Yorktown to express their hearty good will toward the nation which their 
ancestors had tried in vain to keep a part of Great Britain. 

3 Goldwin Smith's Lectures on Modern History (the Foundation of the Ameri- 
can Colonies). * This was in 1778, after the French treaty with the U. S. 



330 LEADING FACTS OF ENGLISH HISTORY. 

602. The Lord George Gordon Riots. — While tke American 

war was in progress, England had not been entirely quiet at home; 
In consequence of the repeal of the most stringent of the unwise 
and unjust laws against the Roman Catholics, — certainly unwise 
and unjust in their continuance for so many generations, if not in 
their origin, — Lord George Gordon, a half- crazed Scotch fanatic, 
now led an attack upon the government ( 1 780) . For six days, Lon- 
don was at the mercy of a furious mob, which set fire to Catholic 
chapels, pillaged many dwellings, and committed every species of 
outrage. Newgate prison was broken into, the prisoners released, 
and the prison burned. 1 No one was safe from attack who did not 
wear a blue cockade to show that he was a Protestant, and a man's 
house was not secure unless he chalked "No Popery" on the door 
in conspicuous letters ; or, as one individual did in order to make 
doubly sure, " No Religion whatever." Before the riot was finally 
subdued a large amount of property had been destroyed and many 
lives sacrificed. 

603. Impeachment of Warren Hastings. — The same year that 
the American war came to an end Warren Hastings, governor- 
general of India, was impeached for corrupt and cruel government, 
and was tried before the House of Lords, gathered in Westminster 
Hall. On the side of Hastings was the powerful East India Com- 
pany, ruling over a territory many times larger than the whole of 
Great Britain. Against him were arrayed the three ablest and 
most eloquent men in England, — Burke, Fox, and Sheridan. The 
trial was continued at intervals for eight years, and resulted in the 
acquittal of the accused ; but it was proved that the chief business 
of those who went out to India was to wring a fortune from the 
natives, and then go back to England to spend it in a life of 
luxury ; this fact, and the stupendous corruption that was shown 
to exist, eventually broke down the gigantic monopoly, and the 
country was thrown open to the trade of all nations. 2 



1 See Dickens's Barnaby Rudge. 

2 See Burke's Speeches ; also Macaulay's Essay on Warren Hastings. 






GOVERNMENT BY THE PEOPLE. 33 1 

' 604. Liberty of the Press ; Law and Prison Reforms ; Abo- 
lition of the Slave Trade. — Since the discontinuance of the 
censorship of the press, 1 though newspapers were nominally free 
to discuss public affairs, yet the government had no intention 
of permitting any severe criticism. On the other hand, there were 
men who were equally determined to speak their minds through 
the press on political as on all other matters. In the early part 
of the reign, John Wilkes, an able but scurrilous writer, attacked 
the policy of the crown in violent terms. A few years later a 
writer, who signed himself " Junius," began a series of letters in 
a daily paper, in which he handled the king and the king's friends 
still more roughly. An attempt was made by the government to 
punish Wilkes and the publisher of the " Junius " letters, but it sig- 
nally failed in both cases, and the public feeling was plainly in favor 
of the right of "the freest expression, 2 which was eventually con- 
ceded. 

Up to this time Parliamentary debates had rarely been re- 
ported. In fact, under the Stuarts and the Tudors, members of 
Parliament would have run the risk of imprisonment if their criti- 
cisms of royalty had been made public ; but now the papers began 
to contain the speeches and votes of both Houses on important 
questions. Every effort was made to suppress these reports, but 
again the press gained the day ; and henceforth the nation learned 
whether its representatives really represented the will of the people, 
and so was able to hold them strictly accountable, — a matter of 
vital importance in every free government. 

Another field of reform was also found. The times were 
brutal. The pillory still stood in the centre of London ; 3 and if 
the unfortunate offender who was put in it escaped with a shower 
of mud and other unsavory missiles, instead of clubs and brick- 



1 See Paragraph No. 550. 

2 Later, during the excitement caused by the French Revolution, there was a reac- 
tion from this feeling, but it was only temporary. 

* The pillory (see Paragraph No. 580) was not abolished until the accession of 
Queen Victoria. 



332 LEADING FACTS OF ENGLISH HISTORY. 

bats, he was lucky indeed. Gentlemen of fashion arranged pleas- 
ure parties to visit the penitentiaries to see the wretched women 
whipped. The whole code of criminal law \/as savagely vin- 
dictive. Capital punishment was inflicted for upwards of two 
hundred offences, many of which would now be thought to be 
sufficiently punished by one or two months' imprisonment in the 
house of correction. Not only men, but women and children 
even, were hanged for pilfering goods or food worth a few shil- 
lings. 1 The jails were crowded with poor wretches whom want 
had driven to theft, and who were "worked off," as the saying 
was, on the gallows every Monday morning in batches of a dozen 
or twenty, in sight of the jeering, drunken crowds who gathered 
to witness their death agonies. 

Through the efforts of Sir Samuel Romilly, Jeremy Bentham, 
and others, a reform was effected in this bloody code ; and by the 
labors of the philanthropic John Howard, and forty years later of 
Elizabeth Fry, the jails were purified of abuses which had made 
them not only dens of suffering and disease, but schools of crime 
as well. The laws respecting punishment for debt were also 
changed for the better, and thousands of miserable beings who 
were without means to satisfy their creditors were now set free, 
instead of being kept in useless life-long imprisonment. At the 
same time Clarkson, Wilberforce, Fox, and Pitt were endeavoring 
to abolish that relic of barbarism, the African slave trade, which, 
after twenty years of persistent effort both in Parliament and out, 
they at last accomplished. 

605. War with France ; Battle of the Nile; Trafalgar; Spain. 
— In 1789 the French Revolution broke out. It was a violent 
and successful attempt to destroy those feudal institutions which 
the nation had outgrown, and which had, as we have seen, disap- 
peared gradually in England after the Wars of the Roses. At first 
the revolutionists received the hearty sympathy of many of the 

1 Five shillings, or $1.25, was the hanging limit; anything stolen above that sum 
in money or goods sent the thief to the gallows. 



GOVERNMENT BY THE PEOPLE. 333 

Whig party, but after the execution of Louis XVI. and Queen 
Marie Antoinette, 1 England became alarmed not only at the horri- 
ble scenes of the Reign of Terror, but at the establishment of 
that democratic Republic which seemed to justify them; and 
joined an alliance of the principal European powers for the pur- 
pose of restoring the French monarchy. Napoleon had now 
become the real head of the French nation, and seemed bent on 
making himself master of all Europe. He undertook an expedition 
against Egypt and the East which was intended as a stepping- 
stone toward the ultimate conquest of the English empire in India, 
but his plans were frustrated by Nelson's victory over the French 
fleet at the battle of the Nile. With the assistance of Spain, 
Napoleon next prepared to invade England, and was so confident 
of success that he caused a gold medal to be struck, bearing the 
inscription, " Descent upon England." " Struck at London, 1804." 
But the combined French and Spanish fleets on whose co-operation 
Napoleon was depending were driven by the English into the har- 
bor of Cadiz, and the great expedition was postponed for another 
year. When, in the autumn of 1805, they left Cadiz harbor, Lord 
Nelson lay waiting for them off Cape Trafalgar, 2 near by. Two 
days later he descried the enemy at daybreak. The men on both 
sides felt that the decisive struggle was at hand. With the excep- 
tion of a long, heavy swell the sea was calm, with a light breeze, 
but sufficient to bring the two fleets gradually within range. 

" As they drifted on their path 
There was silence deep as death; 
And the boldest held his breath 
For a time." 3 

Just before the action, Nelson ran up this signal to the mast- 
head of his ship, where all might see it : " England expects 
every man to do his duty." The answer to it was three ring- 
ing cheers from the entire fleet, and the fight began. When it 

1 See Burke's Reflections on the French Revolution (Death of Marie Antoinette). 

2 Cape Trafalgar (Traf-al'-gar). 

3 Campbell's Battle of the Baltic, but applicable as well to Trafalgar. 



334 LEADING FACTS OF ENGLISH HISTORY. 

ended, Napoleon's boasted navy was no more. Trafalgar Square, 
in the heart of London, with its tall column bearing aloft a statue 
of Nelson, commemorates the decisive victory, which was dearly 
bought with the life of the great admiral. The battle of Trafalgar 
snuffed out Napoleon's projected invasion of England. He had 
lost his ships, and their commander had in despair committed sui- 
cide ; so the French emperor could no longer hope to bridge "the 
ditch," as he derisively called the boisterous Channel, whose waves 
rose like a wall between him and the island which he hated. A 
few years later, Napoleon, who had taken possession of Spain, and 
placed his brother on the throne, was driven from that country by 
Sir Arthur Wellesley, destined to be better known as the Duke of 
Wellington, and the crown was restored to the Spanish nation. 

606. Second War with the United States. —The United 
States waged its first war with Great Britain to gain an independ- 
ent national existence ; in 1 8 1 2 it declared a second war to secure 
its personal and maritime rights. During the long and desperate 
struggle between England and France, each nation had prohibited 
neutral powers from commercial intercourse with the other, or 
with any country friendly to the other. Furthermore, the English 
government had laid down the principle that a person born on 
British soil could not become a citizen of another nation, but that 
" once an Englishman always an Englishman " was the only true 
doctrine. In accordance with that theory, it claimed the right to 
search American ships and take from them and force into their 
own service any seamen supposed to be of British birth. In this 
way Great Britain had seized more than 6000 men, and notwith- 
standing their protest that they were American citizens, either by 
birth or by naturalization, had compelled them to enter the Eng- 
lish navy. Other points in dispute between the two countries 
were in a fair way of being settled amicably, but there appeared to 
be no method of coming to terms in regard to the question of 
search and impressment, which was the most important of all, 
since, though the demand of the United States was, in the popular 



GOVERNMENT BY THE PEOPLE. 335 

phrase of the day, for " Free Trade and Sailors' Rights," it was 
the last which was especially emphasized. In 1812 war against 
Great Britain was declared, and an attack made on Canada which 
resulted in the American forces being driven back. During the 
war British troops landed in Maryland, burned the Capitol and 
other public buildings in Washington, and destroyed the Congres- 
sional Library. On the other hand, the American navy had unex- 
pected and extraordinary successes on the ocean and the lakes. 
Out of sixteen sea combats with approximately equal forces, the 
Americans gained thirteen. 1 The contest closed with the signal 
defeat of the English at New Orleans under Sir Edward Paken- 
ham, brother-in-law of the Duke of Wellington, by the Americans 
under General Andrew Jackson. The right of search was thence- 
forth dropped, although it was not formally abandoned by Great 
Britain until 1856. 

607. Battle of Waterloo. — On Sunday, June 18, 1815, the 
English war against Napoleon, which had been carried on almost 
constantly since his accession to power, culminated in the deci- 
sive battle of Waterloo. 2 Napoleon had crossed the Belgian 
frontier, in order that he might come up with the British before 
they could form a junction with their Prussian allies. All the pre- 
vious night the rain had fallen in torrents, and when the soldiers 
rose from their cheerless bivouac in the trampled and muddy fields 
of rye, a drizzling rain was still falling. Napoleon planned the 
battle with the purpose of destroying first the English and then the 
Prussian forces, but Wellington held his own against the furious 
attacks of the French. It was evident, however, that even tbp 
" Iron Duke," as he was called, could not continue to withstand 
the terrible assaults many hours longer. As time passed on, and 
he saw his solid squares melting away under the murderous French 
fire, as line after line of his soldiers coming forward, silently 
stepped into the places of their fallen comrades, while the ex- 

1 Fiske's Washington and his Country. 

2 Waterloo : near Brussels, Belgium. 



336 LEADING FACTS OF ENGLISH HISTORY. 

pected Prussian reinforcements still delayed their appearance, 
the English commander exclaimed, " O that night or Bliicher ] 
would come ! " At last Bliicher with his Prussians did come, 
and as Grouchy, 2 the leader of a division on whom Napoleon 
was counting, did not, Waterloo was finally won by the combined 
strength of the allies, and not long after, Napoleon was sent to die 
a prisoner on the desolate rock of St. Helena. 

When all was over, Wellington said to Bliicher, as he stood by 
him on a little eminence looking down upon the field covered with 
the dead and dying, " A great victory is the saddest thing on earth, 
except a great defeat." 

With that victory ended the second Hundred Years' War of 
England with France, which began with the War of the Spanish 
Succession in 1 704 3 under Marlborough, and which originally had 
for its double object the humbling of the power that threatened the 
independence of England, and the protection of those colonies 
which had now separated from the mother-country, and had 
become, partly through French help, the republic of the United 
States of America. 

608. Increase of the National Debt; Taxation. — Owing to 
these hundred years and more of war, the national debt of Great 
Britain and Ireland, which in 1688 was much less than a million 
of pounds had now reached the enormous amount of over nine 
hundred millions (or $4,500,000,000) bearing yearly interest at the 
rate of more than $i6o,ooo,ooo. 4 So great had been the strain on 
the finances of the country, that the Bank of England suspended 
payment, and many heavy failures occurred. In addition to this, 
a succession of bad harvests sent up the price of wheat to such a 
point that at one time an ordinary sized loaf of bread cost the 
farm laborer more than half a day's wages. Taxes had gone on 
increasing until it seemed as though the people could not endure 
the burden. As Sydney Smith declared, with entire truth, there 

1 Bliicher (Bloo'ker). 2 Grouchy (Grou'she'). 

3 See Paragraph No. 557. 4 Encyclopaedia Britannica, " National Debt." 



GOVERNMENT BY THE PEOPLE. 337 

were duties on everything. They began, he said, in childhood 
with "the boy's taxed top " ; they followed to old age, until at last 
" the dying Englishman pouring his taxed medicine into a taxed 
spoon, flung himself back on a taxed bed, and died in the arms of 
an apothecary who had payed a tax of a hundred pounds for the 
privilege of putting him to death." 1 

609. Union of Great Britain and Ireland. — For a century 
after the battle of the Boyne Ireland can hardly be said to have had 
a history. 2 The iron hand of English despotism had crushed the 
spirit out of the inhabitants, and they suffered in silence. Dur- 
ing the first part of the eighteenth century the destitution of the 
people was so great that Dean Swift, in bitter mockery of the gov- 
ernment's neglect, published what he called his "Modest Proposal" 
for relieving the misery of the half-starved millions by allowing 
them, as he said, to cook and eat their own children, or else sell 
them to the butchers. After the French wars broke out an asso- 
ciation was formed called the " United Irishmen," which endeav- 
ored to secure the aid of France. The rebellion was quelled, and 
at the beginning of the present century the English government 
succeeded by the most unscrupulous bribery in buying up a suf- 
ficent number of members of the so-called Irish Parliament to 
secure a vote in favor of union with Great Britain, and in 1800 
the two countries were joined — at least in name — under the 
title of the United Kingdom of Great Britain and Ireland. 

William Pitt, son of the late Earl of Chatham, used his influence 
to obtain for Ireland a fair representation in the united Parliament, 
urging that it was for the interest of the two countries that both 
Catholics and Protestants should be eligible for election. His 
advice, however, was rejected, and although a large majority of the 
Irish people were zealous Catholics, not a single member of that 
church was admitted to the House of Commons. To increase if 
possible the hatred of England, free trade with England had up to 

1 Sydney Smith's Essays, Review of Seybert's Annals of the United States. 

2 G.een's English People. 



338 LEADING FACTS OF ENGLISH HISTORY. 

this time been withheld from the Irish, greatly to their loss. They 
were thus treated as a foreign and hostile race, from a commer- 
cial as well as a religious point of view. 

610. Material Progress; Canals; Steam; Distress of the 
Working Class; the North of England. — The reign of George 
III. was, however, in several directions one of marked progress, 
especially in England. Just after the king's accession a canal 
was opened in the north for the transportation of goods. It was 
the first of a system which has since become so widely extended 
that the canals of England now exceed in length its navigable 
rivers. The two form such a complete network of water com- 
munication that it is said that no place in the realm is more than 
fifteen miles distant from this means of transportation, which con- 
nects all the large towns with each other and with the chief ports. 

In 1769 James Watt obtained the first patent for his improved 
steam engine. 1 The story is told that he took a working model 
of it to show to the king. His majesty patronizingly asked him, 
"Well, my man, what have you to sell?" The inventor promptly 
answered, "What kings covet, may it please your majesty, — 
power!" The story is perhaps too good to be true, but the 
fact of the "power" could not be denied — power, too, not 
simply mechanical, but in its results, moral and political as well. 
In 181 1 such was the increase of machinery driven by steam, and 
such the improvements made by Hargreaves, Arkwright, Crompton, 
and others in machinery for spinning and weaving, that much 
distress arose among the working classes. The price of bread 
was growing higher and higher, while in many districts skilled 
operatives could not earn by their utmost efforts two dollars a 
week. They saw their hand-labor supplanted by patent "mon- 
sters of iron and fire," which never grew weary, which subsisted 
on water and coal, and never asked for wages. Led by a man 
named Ludd, the starving workmen attacked the mills, broke the 
machinery in pieces, and sometimes burnt the buildings. The 

1 See Paragraph No. 570. 



GOVERNMENT BY THE PEOPLE. 339 

riots were at length suppressed, and a number of the leaders exe- 
cuted ; but a great change for the better was at hand, and steam 
was soon to remedy the evils it had seemingly created. 

Up to this period the North of England remained the poorest 
part of the country. The population was sparse, ignorant, and 
unprosperous. It was in the south that improvements originated. 
In the reign of Henry VIII. the north fought against the dissolu- 
tion of the monasteries ; in Elizabeth's reign it resisted Protestant- 
ism ; in that of George I. it sided with the Pretender. But steam 
wrought a great change. Factories were built, population in- 
creased, cities sprang up, and wealth grew apace. Birmingham, 
Manchester, Leeds, Nottingham, Leicester, Sheffield, and Liver- 
pool made the north a new country. The saying is now current 
that " what Lancashire thinks to-day, England will think to-mor- 
row." So much for James Watt's "power" and its results. 

611. Discovery of Oxygen ; Introduction of Gas; the Safety 
Lamp; Steam Navigation. — Notwithstanding the progress that 
had been made in many departments of knowledge, the science 
of chemistry remained almost stationary until, in 1 7 74, Dr. Joseph 
Priestley discovered oxygen, the most abundant, as well as the 
most important, element in nature. That discovery not only 
" laid the foundation of modern chemical science," 1 but, as Pro- 
fessor Liebig remarks, "the knowledge of the composition of 
the atmosphere, of the solid crust of the earth, of water, and of 
their influence upon the life of plants and animals was linked with 
it." It proved, also, of direct practical utility, since the success- 
ful pursuit of innumerable trades and manufactures, with the 
profitable separation of metals from their ores, stands in close con- 
nection with the facts which Priestley's experiments made known. 

As intellectual light spread, so also did material light. It was 
not until near the close of the reign of George III. that London 
could be said to be lighted at night. A few feeble oil lamps were 
in use, but the streets were dark and dangerous, and highway rob- 

l Professor Youmans's New Chemistry. 



340 LEADING FACTS OF ENGLISH HISTORY. 

beries were frequent. About 1815 a company was formed to light 
the city with gas. After much opposition from those who were in 
the whale-oil interest the enterprise succeeded. The new light, as 
Miss Martineau has said, did more to prevent crime than all that 
the government had accomplished since the days of Alfred. It 
changed, too, the whole aspect of the capital, though it was only the 
forerunner of the electric light, which has since changed it even 
more. The sight of the great city now, when viewed at night from 
Highgate archway on the north, or looking down the Thames from 
Westminster bridge, is something never to be forgotten. It gives 
one a realizing sense of the immensity of " this province covered 
with houses," which cannot be got so well in any other way. It 
brings to mind, too, those lines expressive of the contrasts of wealth 
and poverty, success and failure, inevitable in such a place : — 

" O gleaming lamps of London, that gem the city's crown, 

What fortunes lie within you, O lights of London town ! 

******** 

O cruel lamps of London, if tears your light could drown, 

Your victims' eyes would weep them, O lights of London town." J 

The same year in which gas was introduced, Sir Humphry Davy 
invented the miner's safety lamp. Without seeking a patent, he 
generously gave his invention to the world, finding his reward in 
the knowledge that it would be the means of saving thousands of 
lives wherever men are called to work underground. 

Since Watt had demonstrated the value of steam for driving 
machinery, a number of inventors had been experimenting with 
the new power, in the hope that they might apply it to propelling 
vessels. In 1807 Robert Fulton, an American, built the first 
steamboat, and made the voyage from New York to Albany in it. 
Shortly after, his vessel began to make regular trips on the Hudson. 
A number of years later a similar boat began to carry passengers 
on the Clyde, in Scotland. Finally, in 1819, the bold undertaking 
was made of crossing the Atlantic by steam. An American 
steamship, the Savannah, of about three hundred tons, set the 

1 From the play " The Lights of London." 



GOVERNMENT BY THE PEOPLE. 341 

example by a voyage from the United States to Liverpool. Dr. 
Lardner, an English scientist, had proved to his own satisfaction 
that ocean steam navigation was impracticable. The book con- 
taining the doctor's demonstration was brought to America by the 
Savannah on her return. Twenty-one years afterward, the Cunard 
and other great lines, with fleets of vessels ranging from 5,000 
to 8,000 tons, were established, making passages from continent to 
continent in about as many days as the ordinary sailing-vessels 
formerly required weeks. The fact that during a period of more 
than forty-five years one of these lines has never lost a passenger 
is conclusive proof that Providence is on the side of steam, when 
steam has men that know how to handle it. 

612. Literature; Art; Education; Dress. — The reign of George 
III. is marked by a long list of names eminent in letters and 
art. First in point of time among these stands Dr. Samuel John- 
son, the compiler of the first English dictionary worthy of the 
name, and that on which those of our own day are based to a 
considerable extent, the author also of the story of Rasselas — 
which may be called a satire on discontent and the search after 
happiness. . Next, stands Johnson's friend, Oliver Goldsmith, 
famous for his genius, his wit, his improvidence, which was 
always getting him into trouble, and for his novel, the " Vicar of 
Wakefield," with his poems. Edward Gibbon, David Hume, author 
of the history of England, and Adam Smith come next in time. 
In 1776 the first published his "Decline and Fall of the Roman 
Empire," which after more than a hundred years still stands the 
ablest history of the subject in any language. In the same year 
Adam Smith issued " An Inquiry into the Nature and Causes of 
the Wealth of Nations," which had an immediate and permanent 
effect on legislation respecting commerce, trade, and finance ; dur- 
ing this period, also, Sir William Blackstone became prominent as 
a writer on law, and Edmund Burke, the distinguished orator and 
statesman, wrote his " Reflections on the French Revolution." The 
poets Burns, Byron, and Shelley, with Sheridan, the orator and dra- 



34^ LEADING FACTS OF ENGLISH HISTORY. 

matist, and Sterne, the humorist, belong to this reign ; so, too, does 
the witty satirist, Sydney Smith, and Sir Walter Scott, whose works, 
like those of Shakespeare, have " made the dead past live again." 
Maria Edgeworth and Jane Austen have left admirable pictures of 
the age in their stories of Irish and English life. Coleridge and 
Wordsworth began to attract attention toward the last of this 
period, and to be much read by those who loved the poetry of 
thought and the poetry of nature ; while early in the next reign, 
Charles Lamb published his delightful " Essays of Elia." 

In art we have the first English painters and engravers. Ho- 
garth, who died a few years after the beginning of the reign, was 
celebrated for his coarse but perfect representations of low life 
and street scenes ; and his series of election pictures with his " Beer 
Lane" and " Gin Alley " are valuable for the insight they give into 
the history of the times. The chief portrait painters were Rey- 
nolds, Lawrence, and Gainsborough, of whom the last afterward 
became noted for his landscapes. They were followed by Wilkie, 
whose pictures of "The Rent Day," "The Reading of the Will," 
with many others, tell a story of interest to every one who looks at 
them. Last, and greatest, came Turner, who surpassed all former 
artists in his power of reproducing scenes in nature. At the same 
time, Bewick, whose cuts used to be the delight of every child that 
read "^Esop's Fables," gave a new impulse to wood-engraving, 
while Flaxman rose to be the leading English sculptor, and Wedge- 
wood introduced useful and beautiful articles of pottery. 

In common school education little advance had been made for 
many generations. In the country the great mass of the people 
were nearly as ignorant as they were in the darkest part of the 
Middle Ages. Hardly a peasant over forty years of age could be 
found who could read a verse in the Bible, and not one in ten 
could write his name. There were no cheap books or newspapers, 
no railroads, no system of public instruction. The poor scarcely 
ever left the counties in which they were born, they knew nothing 
of what was going on in the world, and their education was wholly 
of that practical kind which comes from work and things, not 



GOVERNMENT BY THE PEOPLE. 343 

books and teachers ; yet many of them with only these simple 
helps found out two secrets which the highest culture sometimes 
misses, — how to be useful and how to be happy. 1 

The close of George III.'s reign marks the beginning of the 
present age. It was indicated in many ways, and among others 
by the change in dress. Gentlemen were leaving off the picturesque 
costumes of the past — the cocked hats, elaborate wigs, silk stock- 
ings, ruffles, velvet coats, and swords, — and gradually putting on 
the plain democratic garb, sober in cut and color, by which we 
know them to-day. 2 

613. Last Days of George III. — In 1820 George III. died 
at the age of seventy-eight. During ten years he had been blind, 
deaf, and insane, having lost his reason not very long after the 
jubilee, which celebrated the fiftieth year of his reign in 1809. 
Once, in a lucid interval, he was found by the queen singing a 
hymn and playing an accompaniment on the harpsichord. He 
then knelt and prayed aloud for her, for his family, and for the 
nation ; and in closing, for himself, that it might please God to 
avert his heavy calamity, or grant him resignation to bear it. 
Then he burst into tears, and his reason again fled. 3 In con- 
sequence of the incapacity of the king, his eldest son was 
appointed Prince Regent, and on the king's death came to the 
throne. 

614. Summary. — The long reign of George III., covering over 
sixty years, was in every way eventful. During "that time England 
lost her possessions in America. During that period, also, Ireland 
was united to Great Britain. The wars with France, which lasted 
more than twenty years, ended in the victory of Trafalgar and the 
still greater victory of Waterloo. In consequence of these wars, 
with that of the American revolution, the national debt of Great 
Britain rose to a height which rendered the burden of taxation 

1 See Wordsworth's poem " Resolution and Independence." 

2 See Martin's Civil Costumes of Great Britain. 
8 See Thackeray's Four Georges. 



344 LEADING FACTS OF ENGLISH HISTORY. 

well-nigh insupportable. The second war with the United States 
in 1812 resulted in completing American independence, and Eng- 
land was forced to relinquish the right of search. The two greatest 
reforms of the period were the abolition of the slave trade and 
the mitigation of the laws against debt and crime; the chief 
material improvement was the application of steam to manufac- 
turing and navigation. 



t 



GEORGE IV.— 1820-1830. 



615. Accession and Character of George IV. — George IV., 

eldest son of the late king, came to the throne in his fifty-eighth 
year ; though owing to his father's insanity, he had virtually been 
king since 181 1. His habits of life had made him a selfish, disso- 
lute spendthrift, who, like Charles II., cared only for pleasure. 
Though while Prince of Wales he had had for many years an 
income of upwards of half a million of dollars, which was largely 
increased at a later period, yet he was always hopelessly in 
debt. In 1795 Parliament appropriated over $3,000,000 to re- 
lieve him from his most pressing creditors, but his wild extrava- 
gance soon involved him in difficulties again, so that had it not 
been for help given by the long-suffering tax-payers, his royal high- 
ness must have become as bankrupt in purse as he was in character. 
After his accession matters became worse rather than better. At 
his coronation, which cost the nation over a million of dollars, 
he appeared in hired jewels, which he forgot to return, and which 
Parliament had to pay for. Not only did he waste the nation's 
money more recklessly than ever, but he used whatever political 
influence he had to oppose such means of reform as the times 
demanded. 

616. Discontent and Conspiracy; the " Manchester Massacre." 

— When in 181 1 the prince became regent, he desired to form a 
Whig ministry, not because he cared for Whig principles, but 
solely for the reason that he should thereby be acting in oppo- 
sition to his father's wishes. Finding his purpose impracticable, 



GOVERNMENT BY THE PEOPLE. 345 

the prince accepted Tory rule, and a government was formed with 
Lord Liverpool as its nominal head, which had for its main object 
the exclusion of the Catholics from representation in Parliament. 

Liverpool was a dull, well-meaning man, who utterly failed to 
comprehend the real tendency of the age. He was the son of a 
commoner who had been raised to the peerage. He had always 
had a reputation for honest obstinacy, and for little else. After he 
became premier, Madame de Stael, who was visiting England, 
asked him one day, " What has become of that very stupid man, 
Mr. Jenkinson ? " "Madame," answered the unfortunate minister, 
" he is now Lord Liverpool." 1 

From such a government, which continued in power for fifteen 
years, nothing but trouble could be expected. The misery of the 
country was great. Food was selling at famine prices. Thou- 
sands were on the verge of starvation, and tens of thousands did 
not get enough to eat. Trade was seriously depressed, and multi- 
tudes were unable to obtain work. Under these circumstances the 
suffering masses undertook to hold public meetings to discuss the 
cause and cure of these evils, but the authorities looked upon these 
meetings with suspicion, especially as violent speeches against the 
government were often made, and dispersed them as seditious and 
tending to riot and rebellion. Many large towns at this period 
had no voice in legislation. At Birmingham, which was one of 
this class, the citizens had met and chosen, though without legal 
authority, a representative to Parliament. Manchester, another 
important manufacturing town, now determined to do the same. 
The people were warned not to assemble, but they persisted in 
doing so, on the ground that peaceful discussion, with the election 
of a representative, was no violation of law. The meeting' was 
held, and through the blundering of a magistrate, it ended in 
an attack by a body of troops, by which many people were wounded 
and a number killed. The bitter feeling caused by the " Manches- 



i Earl's English Premiers, Vol. II. Madame de Stael (Stal) : a celebrated French 
writer. 



346 LEADING FACTS OP ENGLISH HISTORY. 

ter Massacre," as it was called, and by the repressive measures of 
the government generally, led to the " Cato Street Conspiracy." 
Shortly after the accession of the new king a few desperate men 
banded together, and meeting in a stable in Cato Street, London, 
formed a plot to murder Lord Liverpool and the entire Cabinet at 
a dinner at which all the ministers were to be present. The plot 
was discovered, and the conspirators speedily disposed of by the 
gallows or transportation, but nothing was done to relieve the suf- 
fering which had provoked the intended crime. No new conspir- 
acy was attempted, but in the course of the next twenty-five years 
a silent revolution took place, which, as we shall see later, obtained 
for the people that representation in Parliament which they had 
hitherto vainly attempted to get. 

617. Queen Caroline. — In 1785 Prince George had, contrary 
to law, 1 married Mrs. Fitzherbert, a Roman Catholic lady of 
excellent character, and possessed of great beauty. Ten years 
later, partly through royal compulsion, and partly to get money to 
pay off some of his numerous debts, the prince married his cousin, 
Caroline of Brunswick. The union proved a source of unhappi- 
ness to both. The princess lacked both discretion and delicacy, 
and her husband, who disliked her from the first, was reckless and 
brutal toward her. He separated from her in a year's time, and 
as soon as she could she withdrew to the continent. On his 
accession to the throne the king excluded Queen Caroline's name 
from the Prayer Book, and next applied to Parliament for a 
divorce on the ground of the queen's unfaithfulness to her mar- 
riage vows. 

Henry Brougham, afterwards Lord Brougham, acted as the 
queen's counsel. No sufficient evidence was brought against her, 
and the ministry declined to take further action. It was decided, 
however, that she could not claim the honor of coronation, to 

1 By the Royal Marriage Act of 1772, no descendant of George II. could make 
a legal marriage without the consent of the reigning sovereign, unless twenty-five 
years of age, and the marriage was not objected to by Parliament. 



GOVERNMENT BY THE PEOPLE. 347 

which, as queen-consort, she had a right sanctioned by custom 
but not secured by law. When the king was crowned, no place 
was provided for her. By the advice of her counsel, she pre- 
sented herself at the entrance of Westminster Abbey as the coro- 
nation ceremony was about to begin; but, by order of her 
husband, admission was refused, and she retired to die, heart- 
broken, a few days after. 

618. Three Reforms. — In 1828 the Duke of Wellington, a 
Tory in politics, became prime minister. His sympathies in all 
matters of legislation were with the king, but he made a virtue of 
necessity, and for the time acted with those who demanded reform. 
The Corporation Act, which was originally passed in the reign of 
Charles II., and had for its object the exclusion of Dissenters from 
all town or corporate offices, was now repealed : henceforth a man 
might become a mayor, alderman, or bank president, and the like, 
without belonging to the Church of England. At the same time 
the Test Act, which had also been passed in Charles II. 's reign to 
keep both Catholics and Dissenters out of government offices, 
whether civil or military, was repealed. The next year (1829) a 
still greater reform was carried. For a long period the Roman 
Catholic Emancipation party had been laboring to obtain the aboli- 
tion of the unjust laws which had been on the statute books for over 
a century and a half, by which Catholics were excluded from the 
right to sit in Parliament — laws which, it will be remembered, were 
enacted at the time of the alleged " Popish. Plot," and in conse- 
quence of the perjured evidence given by Titus Oates. 1 After the 
most strenuous opposition of the king and his party, including the 
Duke of Wellington, the latter became convinced that further 
opposition was useless, and he took the lead in securing the suc- 
cess of a measure which he heartily hated, solely, as he declared, 
to avert civil war. 

But at the same time that Catholic emancipation was granted, 
an act was passed depriving a very large class of small Irish land- 

1 See Paragraph No. 530. See also Sydney Smith's " Peter Plymley's Letters." 



348 LEADING FACTS OF ENGLISH HISTORY. 

holders of the right to vote, on the pretext that they would be 
influenced by either their landlord or their priest. 1 

Under the new order of things, Daniel O'Connell, an Irish gen- 
tleman of an old and honorable family, and a man of distinguished 
ability, came forward as leader of the Catholics. After much diffi- 
culty he succeeded in taking his seat in the House of Commons, 
and henceforth devoted himself, though without avail, to the 
repeal of the act uniting Ireland with England, and to the restora- 
tion of an independent Irish Parliament. 

619. The New Police. — Although London had now a popula- 
tion of a million and a half, it still had no effective police. The 
guardians of the peace at that date were infirm old men who 
spent their time dozing in sentry-boxes, and had neither the 
strength nor energy to be of service in any emergency. The 
young fellows of fashion considered these venerable constables as 
legitimate game, and often amused themselves by upsetting the 
sentry-boxes with their occupants, leaving the latter helpless in the 
street, kicking and struggling like turtles turned on their backs, and 
as powerless to get on their feet again. During the last year of 
the reign Sir Robert Peel got a bill passed which organized a new 
and thoroughly efficient police force, properly equipped and 
uniformed. Great was the outcry against this innovation, and 
the "men in blue" were hooted at, not only by London "roughs," 
but by respectable citizens, as " Bobbies " or " Peelers," in derisive 
allusion to their founder. But the " Bobbies," who do not carry 
even a visible club, were not to be jeered out of existence, and 
they have henceforth continued to do their duty in a way which 
long since gained for them the good will of all who care for the 
preservation of law and order. 

620. Death of the King. — George IV. died in the summer 
of 1830. Of him it may well be said, though in a very different 
sense from that in which the expression was originally used, that 

1 The property qualification in Ireland was raised from £2. to ^10. 



GOVERNMENT BY THE PEOPLE. 349 

" nothing in his life became him like the leaving it." 1 During his 
ten years' reign he had squandered enormous sums of money in 
gambling and dissipation, and had done his utmost to block the 
wheels of political progress. How far this son of an insane father 
was responsible, it may not be for us to judge. Walter Scott, who 
had a kind word for almost every one, and especially for any one 
of the Tory party, did not fail to say something in praise of the 
generous good nature of his friend George IV. The sad thing is 
that his voice is the only one. In a whole nation the rest are 
silent ; or, if they speak, it is neither to commend nor to defend, 
but to condemn. 

621. Summary. — The legislative reforms of George IV.'s 
reign are its chief features. The repeal of the Test and Corpora- 
tion acts and Catholic emancipation were tardy measures of jus- 
tice, for which neither the king nor his ministers deserve any 
credit, but which, none the less, accomplished great and perma- 
nent good. 

WILLIAM IV. - 1830-1837. 

622. Accession and Character of William IV. — As George 
IV. left no heir, his brother William, a man of sixty-five, now 
came to the throne. He had passed most of his life on ship- 
board, having been placed in the navy when a mere lad. He was 
somewhat rough in his manner, and cared nothing for the cere- 
mony and etiquette that were so dear to both George III. and IV. 
His faults, however, were on the surface. He was frank, hearty, 
and a friend to the people, to whom he was familiarly known as 
"the Sailor King." 

623. Need of Parliamentary Reform; Rotten Boroughs. — 

From the beginning of this reign it was evident that the great 
question which must come up for settlement was that of Parlia- 
mentary representation. Large numbers of the people of England 
had now no voice in the government. This unfortunate state of 

1 ShakesDeare's Macbeth, Act I. Sc. 4. 



350 LEADING FACTS OF ENGLISH HISTORY. 

things was chiefly the result of the great changes which had taken 
place in the growth of the population of the midlands and the 
north. Since the introduction of steam the rapid increase of 
manufactures and commerce had built up many large towns in 
the iron, coal, pottery, and wool-raising districts, such as Birming- 
ham, Leeds, Sheffield, Manchester, which could not send a mem- 
ber to Parliament ; while, on the other hand, many places in the 
South of England which did send, had long since ceased to 
be of any importance. Furthermore, the representation was of 
the most hap-hazard description. In one section no one could 
vote except substantial property-holders, in another, none but 
town officers, while in a third, every man who had a tenement big 
enough to boil a pot in, and hence called a " Potwalloper," pos- 
sessed the right. To this singular state of things the nation had 
long been indifferent. During the Middle Ages the inhabitants 
often had no desire either to go to Parliament themselves or to 
send others. The expense of the journey was great, the compen- 
sation was small, and unless some important matter of special 
interest to the people was at stake, they preferred staying at 
home ; so that it was often almost as difficult for the sheriff to 
get a distant county member up to the House of Commons in 
London as it would have been to carry him there a prisoner to 
be tried for his life. Now, however, everything was changed; 
the rise of political parties, the constant and heavy taxation, the 
jealousy of the increase of royal authority, the influence and 
honor of the position of a Parliamentary representative, all con- 
spired to make men eager to obtain their full share in the manage- 
ment of the government. This new interest had begun as far 
back as the civil wars of the seventeenth century, and when Crom- 
well came to power he effected many much-needed reforms ; but 
after the restoration of the Stuarts the Protector's wise measures 
were repealed or neglected, the old order, or rather disorder, again 
asserted itself, and in many cases matters were worse than ever. 
Thus, for instance, the borough or city of Old Sarum, in Wilt- 
shire, which had once been an important place had, at an early 



GOVERNMENT BY THE PEOPLE. 35 1 

period, gradually declined through the growth of New Sarum, or 
Salisbury, near by. In the sixteenth century the parent city had 
so completely decayed that not a single habitation was left on the 
desolate hill-top where the castle and cathedral once stood. At 
the foot of the hill was an old tree. In 1830 the owner of that 
tree and of the field where it grew sent two members to Parlia- 
ment — that action represented what had been regularly going on 
for something like three hundred years ! In Bath, on the other 
hand, none of the citizens, out of a large population, might vote 
except the mayor, aldermen, and common council. These places 
now got the significant name of "rotten boroughs" from the fact 
that whether large or small there was no longer any sound political 
life existing in them. 

624. The Reform Bill. — For fifty years after the coming in of 
the Georges the country had been ruled by a powerful Whig 
monopoly. Under George III. that monopoly was broken, and 
the Tories got possession of the government ; but whichever party 
ruled, Parliament, owing to the "rotten borough" system, no longer 
represented the nation, but simply stood for the will of certain 
wealthy landholders and town corporations. A loud and deter- 
mined demand was now made for reform. Among those who 
helped to urge forward the movement none was more active or 
influential among the common people than William Cobbett, a 
self-educated man, but a vigorous and fearless writer, who for years 
published a small newspaper called the Political Register, which 
was especially devoted to securing a just and uniform system of 
representation. 

On the accession of William IV. the pressure for reform became 
so great that Parliament was forced to act. Lord Russell brought 
in a bill providing for the abolition of the " rotten boroughs " and 
for a fair system of elections. Those who owned or controlled 
these boroughs had no intention of giving them up. Their oppo- 
nents, however, were equally determined, and they knew that they 
had the support of the nation. In a speech which the Rev. 



352 LEADING FACTS OF ENGLISH HISTORY. 

Sydney Smith made at Taunton, he compared the futile resistance 
of the House of Lords to the proposed reform, to Mrs. Parting- 
ton's attempt to drive back the rising tide of the Atlantic with 
her mop. The ocean rose, and Mrs. Partington, seizing her mop, 
rose against it ; yet, notwithstanding the good lady's efforts, the 
Atlantic got the best of it ; so the speaker prophesied that in this 
case the people, like the Atlantic, would in the end carry the day. 1 

When the bill came up, the greater part of the lords and bishops, 
who, so far as they were concerned personally, had all the rights 
and privileges they wanted, voted against the reform. To them 
the proposed law seemed, perhaps with good reason, to threaten 
the stability of the government. The Duke of Wellington was 
particularly prominent among those who were hostile to it, and 
wrote : " I don't generally take a gloomy view of things, but I 
confess that, knowing all that I do, I cannot see what is to save 
the Church, or property, or colonies, or union with Ireland, or, 
eventually, monarchy, if the Reform Bill passes." 2 

The king dissolved Parliament ; a new one was elected, but it 
was still more determined to carry the measure. Again the Upper 
House rejected it. Then a period of wild excitement ensued. 
The people in many of the towns collected in the public squares, 
tolled the church bells, built bonfires in which they burned in 
effigy the bishops, and other leading opponents of the bill, and 
cried out for the abolition of the House of Lords. In London the 
rabble smashed the windows of the Duke of Wellington. In 
Bristol and Derby terrible riots broke out, and at Nottingham the 
mob fired and destroyed the castle of the Duke of Newcastle, who 
was noted for his opposition to reform, while all over the country 
shouts were heard, " The Bill, the whole Bill, and nothing but the 
Bill ! " 

625. Passage of the Bill (1832) ; Results. — In the spring of 
1832 the battle began again with greater fierceness than ever. 

1 Sydney Smith's Essays and Speeches. 

2 Wellington's Despatches and Letters, Vol. II. 451. 



GOVERNMENT BY THE PEOPLE. 353 

Again the House of Commons voted the bill, and once again the 
Lords defeated it. 

It was evident that matters could not go on in this manner 
much longer. The ministry, as a final measure, appealed to the 
king for help. If the Lords would not pass the bill, the sovereign 
had the power to create a sufficient numl er of new Whig lords who 
would. William now yielded to the pressure, and much against 
his will, gave the following document to his prime minister : " The 
King grants permission to Earl Grey, and to his Chancellor, Lord 
Brougham, to create such a number of Peers as will be sufficient to 
insure the passing of the Reform Bill — first calling up peers'* eldest 
sons. William R., Windsor, May 17, 1832." * 

But there was no occasion to make use of this permission. As 
soon as the peers found that the king had granted it, they yielded. 
Those who had opposed the bill now stayed away ; the measure 
was carried, received the royal signature, and became law. Its 
passage brought about a beneficent change. (1) It abolished the 
" rotten boroughs." (2) It gave every householder who paid rent 
of fifty dollars in any town a vote, and largely extended the list 
of county votes as well. (3) It granted two representatives to 
Birmingham, Leeds, Manchester, and nineteen other large towns, 
and one representative each to twenty-one other places, all of 
which had hitherto been unrepresented, besides granting fifteen 
additional members to the counties. (4) It added in all half a 
million of voters to the list, and it helped to purify the elections 
from the violence which had disgraced them. Before the pass- 
ing of the Reform Bill and the legislation which supplemented 
it, the election of a member of Parliament was a kind of local reign 
of terror. The smaller towns were sometimes under the control of 
drunken ruffians for several weeks. During that time they paraded 
the streets in bands, assaulting voters of the opposite party with 

1 " I?irst calling up peers' eldest sons": that is, in creating new lords, the eldest 
sons of peers were to have the preference. William R. {Rex, King) : this is the 
customary royal signature. 



354 LEADING FACTS OF ENGLISH HISTORY. 

clubs, kidnapping prominent men and confining them until after 
the election, and perpetrating other outrages which so frightened 
peaceable citizens that often they did not dare attempt to vote 
at all. 

626. Abolition of Slavery ; Factory Reform. — With the new 
Parliament that came into power the names of Liberal and Con- 
servative began to supplant those of Whig and Tory. The House 
of Commons now reflected the will of the people better than ever 
before, and further reforms were accordingly carried. 

In 1833 Buxton,. Wilberforce, Brougham, and other philanthro- 
pists, against the strenuous opposition of the king, secured the 
passage through Parliament of a bill, for which they, with the 
younger Pitt, Clarkson, and Zachary Macaulay, had labored in 
vain for half a century, whereby all negro slaves in British colo- 
nies, who now numbered 800,000, were set free, and twenty mil- 
lions of pounds sterling appropriated to compensate the owners. 
It was a grand deed grandly done, and could America have fol- 
lowed the noble example, she might thereby have saved a million 
of human lives and three thousand millions of dollars which were 
cast into the gulf of civil war, while the corrupting influence of 
five years of waste and discord would have been avoided. 

But negro slaves were not the only slaves in those days. There 
were white slaves as well, — women and children born in England, 
but condemned by their necessities to work under ground in the 
coal mines, or exhaust their strength in the cotton mills. 1 They 
were driven by brutal masters who cared as little for the welfare 
of those under them as the overseer of a West India plantation did 
for his gangs of toilers in the rice swamps. Parliament at length 
turned its attention to these abuses, and greatly alleviated them by 
the passage of acts forbidding the employment of women and 

1 Children of six and seven years old were kept at work for twelve and thirteen 
hours continuously in the factories, and were often inhumanly treated. They were 
also employed in the coal mines at this tender age. All day long they sat in abso- 
lute darkness, opening and shutting doors for the passage of coal cars. If, over- 
come with fatigue, they fell asleep, they were cruelly beaten with a strap. 



GOVERNMENT BY THE PEOPLE. 355 

young children in the collieries and factories, while a later act 
put an end to the barbarous practice of forcing children to sweep 
chimneys. In an overcrowded country like England, the lot of 
the poor must continue to be exceptionally hard, but there is no 
longer the indifference toward it that once prevailed. Poverty 
there may still be lookecf upon as a crime, or something very like 
it-; but it is regarded now as a crime which may possibly have 
some extenuating circumstances. 

627. Inventions; the First Steam Railway; the Friction 
Match. — Ever since the application of steam to machinery, inven- 
tors had been discussing plans for placing the steam engine on 
wheels and using it as a propelling power in place of horses. 
Macadam, a Scotch surveyor, had constructed a number of very 
superior roads made of gravel and broken stone in the South of 
England, which soon made the name of macadamized turnpike cel- 
ebrated. The question now was, Might not a still further advance 
be made by employing steam to draw cars on these roads, or 
better still, on iron rails? George Stephenson had long been 
experimenting in that direction, and at length certain capitalists 
whom he had converted to his views succeeded in getting an act 
of Parliament for constructing a railway between Liverpool and 
Manchester, a distance of about thirty miles. When the road was 
completed by Stephenson, he had great difficulty in getting per- 
mission to use an engine instead of horse power on it. Finally 
his new locomotive, "The Rocket," — which first introduced the 
tubular boiler, and employed the exhaust or escaping steam to 
increase the draught of the fire, — was tried with entire success. 
The road was formally opened in the autumn of 1830, and the 
Duke of Wellington, then prime minister, was one of the few pas- 
sengers who ventured on the trial trip. 1 The growth of this new 
mode of transportation was so rapid that in five years from that 

1 "The Rocket," together with Watt's first steam pumping engine, are both pre- 
served in the Patent Office Museum, South Kensington, London. 

The tubular boiler is, as its name implies, a boiler traversed by a number of 
tubes communicating with the smoke-pipe ; as the heat passes through these, steam 



356 LEADING FACTS OF ENGLISH HISTORY. 

time London and the principal seaports were connected with the 
great manufacturing towns, while steam navigation had also nearly 
doubled its vessels and its tonnage. Ten years later still, the 
whole country became involved in a speculative craze for building 
railroads. Hundreds of millions of pounds were invested ; for a 
time Hudson, the "Railway King," as he was called, ruled supreme, 
and members of Parliament did homage to the man whose schemes 
promised to cover the whole island with a network of iron roads, 
every one of which was expected to make its stockholders rich. 
Eventually these projects ended in a panic, second only to that of 
the South Sea Bubble, and thousands found that steam could 
destroy fortunes even faster than it made them. 

Toward the close of William's reign, between the years 1829 
and 1834, a humble invention was perfected of which little was 
said at the time, but which contributed in no small degree to the 
comfort and convenience of every one. Up to this date the two 
most important of all civilizing agents — fire and light — could 
only be produced with much difficulty and at considerable ex- 
pense. Various devices had been contrived to obtain them, but 
the common method continued to be the primitive one of striking 
a bit of flint and steel sharply together until a falling spark ignited 
a piece of tinder or half-burnt rag, which, when it caught, had, 
with no little expense of breath, to be blown into a flame. The 
progress of chemistry suggested the use of phosphorus, and after 
years of experiments the friction match was invented by an Eng- 
lish apothecary, who thus gave to the world what is now the com- 
monest, and perhaps at the same time the most useful domestic 
article in existence. 

628. Summary. — William IV.'s short reign of seven years is 
marked (1) by the great Reform Bill of 1832, which took Parlia- 

is thereby generated much more rapidly than it could otherwise be. The steam 
after it has done its work in the cylinders escapes into the smoke-pipe with great 
force, and of course increases the draught. Without these two improvements ot 
Stephenson's the locomotive would never have attained a greater speed than five or 
six miles an hour. 



GOVERNMENT BY THE PEOPLE. 357 

ment out of the hands of a moneyed clique and put it under the 
control of the people ; (2) by the abolition of slavery in the British 
colonies, and factory reform ; (3) by the introduction of the friction 
match, and by the building of the first successful line of railway. 

VICTORIA 1837. — 

629. The Queen's Descent ; Stability of the Government. — 

As William IV. left no child to inherit the crown, he was succeeded 
by his niece, 1 the Princess Victoria, daughter of his brother Edward, 
Duke of Kent. In her lineage the queen represents nearly the 
whole past sovereignty of the land over which she governs. 2 The 
blood of both Cerdic, the first Saxon king, and of William the 
Conqueror, 3 flows in her veins, — a fact which strikingly illustrates 
the vitality of the hereditary and conservative principles in the 
history of the English crown. 

We see the full force of this when we pause to survey the ground 
we have passed over. Since the coming of the English to Britain 
a succession of important changes has taken place. 

In 1066 the Normans crossed the Channel, invaded the island, 
conquered its inhabitants, and seized the throne. Five centuries 
later the religion of Rome was supplanted by the Protestant faith 
of Luther. 

A hundred years after that event, civil war burst forth, the king 
was deposed and beheaded, r and a republic established. A few 
years subsequently the monarchy was restored, only to be followed 
by a revolution, which changed the order of succession, drove one 
line of sovereigns from the land, and called in another from Ger- 
many to take their place. Meanwhile new political parties rose to 
power, the Reform Bill passed, and Parliament came to represent 
more perfectly than ever the will of the whole people ; yet after all 
these events, at the end of more than ten centuries from the date 

1 See table, Paragraph No. 581. 

2 The only exceptions are the Danish sovereigns and Harold II. 
8 See Genealogical Table, page 402. 



358 LEADING FACTS OF ENGLISH HISTORY. 

when Egbert first assumed the crown, we find England governed 
by a descendant of her earliest rulers ! 

630. A New Order of Things ; the House of Commons now 
Supreme. — The new queen was but little over eighteen when 
called to the throne. At her accession a new order of things 
began. The Georges, with William IV., had insisted on dis- 
missing their ministers, or chief political advisers, when they 
pleased, without condescending to give Parliament any reason for 
the change. That system, which may be considered as the last ves- 
tige of "personal government," T that is, of the power of the crown 
to act without the advice of the nation, died with the late king. 

With the coronation of Victoria the principle was established 
that henceforth the sovereign of the British Empire cannot remove 
the prime minister or his cabinet without the consent of the House 
of Commons elected by and directly representing the great body of 
the people ; nor, on the other hand, would the sovereign now ven- 
ture to retain a ministry which the Commons refused to support. 2 - 

Custom, too, has decided that the queen must give her sanction 
to any bill which Parliament approves and desires to make law ; 3 
so that if the two Houses should agree to draw up and send her 
own death warrant to the queen, she would be obliged to sign it, 
or abdicate. 4 

1 See McCarthy, History of Our Own Times. 

2 So carefully does the queen guard herself against any political influence adverse 
to that of the ministry (and hence of the majority of the House of Commons) , that 
the Mistress of the Robes, or head of her majesty's household, now changes with 
the ministry, and it is furthermore understood that any ladies under her whose pres- 
ence might be politically inconvenient to the premier shall retire " of their own accord." 
In other words, the in-coming ministry have the right to remodel the queen's house- 
hold — or any other body of offices — in whatever degree they think requisite, and 
the late Prince Albert could not even appoint his own private secretary, but much to 
his chagrin had to accept one appointed for him by the prime minister. See May's 
Constitutional History of England, and Martin's Life of the Prince Consort, vol. 5. 

3 Queen Anne was the last sovereign who vetoed a bill. That was in 1707. Dur- 
ing the hundred and eighty years which have followed no English sovereign has 
ventured to repeat the experiment. 

4 See Bagehot, The English Constitution. 



GOVERNMENT BY THE PEOPLE. 359 

Thus the queen's real position to-day is that of a person who 
has much indirect influence and but little direct power — far less 
in fact than that of the President of the United States, who can 
exercise the right of vetoing a bill, thus preventing a majority of 
Congress from enacting a law ; 1 and may remove the lower class 
of office-holders at pleasure. 

631. Sketch of the Peerage. — A change equally great has 
taken place with respect to the peers. 2 As that body has played 
a most important part in the government of England and still 
retains considerable influence, it may be well to consider their 
history and present condition. It will be remembered that the 
peerage originated with the Norman conquest. William rewarded 
the barons, or chief men, who fought under him at Hastings, 3 with 
grants of immense estates, which were given on two conditions, 
one of military service at the call of the sovereign, 4 the other their 
attendance at the royal council, 5 an advisory and legislative body, 
which contained the germ of the present parliamentary system. It 
will thus be seen that the Conqueror made the possession of landed 
property directly dependent on the discharge of public duties. So 
that if on the one hand the conquest carried out the principle 

" That they should take who have the power, 
And they should keep who can," 6 

on the other, it insisted on the higher principle that in return for 
such taking and keeping the victors should bind themselves by oath 
both to defend and to govern the state. 

1 Congress may, however, pass a law over the President's veto, providing they 
can get a two-thirds vote in its favor. 

2 Peers (from the Latin pares, equals) . The word first occurs in an act of Par- 
liament, 1322, — " Pares et proceres regni Angliae spirituales et temporales." 

8 The names of the great barons have been preserved in Domesday Book 
(see Paragraph No. 169), in the roll of Battle Abbey (though that was tampered with 
by the monks), and on the wall of the twelfth century church at Dives, Nor- 
mandy, where the Conqueror built his ships. 

4 See Paragraph No. 200. 

5 See Paragraph No. 200. 

t> Wordsworth, Rob Roy's Grave. 



360 LEADING FACTS OF ENGLISH HISTORY. 

In later reigns the king summoned other influential men to 
attend Parliament, who, to distinguish them from the original 
barons by land-tenure, were called " barons by writ " ; 1 and sub- 
sequently it became customary for the sovereign to create barons 
by letters-patent, as is the method at present. 2 

The original baronage continued predominant until the Wars of 
the Roses 3 so nearly destroyed the ancient nobility, that, as Lord 
Beaconsfield, says, " A Norman baron was almost as rare a being 
in England then as a wolf is now." 4 With the coming in of the 
Tudors a new nobility was created. 5 Even this has become in 
preat measure extinct, and of those who now sit in the House of 
Lords perhaps not more than a fourth can trace their titles further 
back than the Georges, who created great numbers of peers in 
return for political services either rendered or expected. 

Politically speaking, the nobility of England, unlike the old nobil- 
ity of France, is as a rule strictly confined to the male head of the 
family. None of the children of the most powerful duke or lord 
have during his life any civil or legal rights or privileges above that 
of the poorest and obscurest peasant in Great Britain. 6 They are 
simply commoners. But by courtesy, the eldest son of a noble- 
man usually receives a part of his father's title, and at his death 
he enters into possession of his estate 7 and rank, and takes his 
seat in the House of Lords, having in many cases been a member 
of the House of Commons by election for a number of years 
before. The younger sons inherit neither hereditary title, politi- 
cal power, nor landed property, but quite generally obtain offices 
in the civil service, or positions in the army or the church. 

l See Paragraph No. 315. 2 See Paragraph No. 315. 3 See Paragraph No. 368. 
4 Beaconsfield's Coningsby. 5 See Paragraph No. 404. 

6 Even the younger children of the sovereign are no exception to this rule. The 
only one born with a title is the eldest, who is Duke of Cornwall by birth, and is 
created Prince of Wales. The others are simply commoners. See Freeman's 
Growth of the English Constitution. 

7 So strictly is property entailed, that there are proprietors of large estates, who 
cannot so much as cut down a tree without permission of the heir. Badeau's 
English Aristocracy. 



GOVERNMENT BY THE PEOPLE. 36 1 

The whole number of peers is, m round numbers, about five 
hundred. 1 They may be said to own most of the land of England. 
Their average incomes are estimated at £2 2,000 ($1 10,000), or an 
aggregate of^ 11,000,000 ($55,000,000), an amount certainly not 
greater, if indeed it equals, the combined incomes of half a dozen 
leading American capitalists. 

One of the most remarkable things about the peerage in modern 
times is the fact that its ranks have been constantly recruited from 
the people ; and just as any boy born in America feels himself a 
possible senator or president, so any Englishman who has com- 
manding ability may, like Pitt, Disraeli, Churchill, Nelson, Welles- 
ley, Brougham, Tennyson, or Macaulay, hope to win and wear 
a coronet ; for brains and character go to the front in England just 
as surely as they do elsewhere. 

In their legislative action the peers are, with very rare exceptions, 
ultra conservative. They have seldom granted their assent to any 
liberal measure except from pressure of the most unmistakable 
kind. It is for their interest to keep things as they are, and hence 
they fight against every tendency to give the people a larger meas- 
ure of power. They opposed the Habeas Corpus Act under 
Charles II., the Great Reform Bill of 1832, the Education Bill of 
1834, the admission of the Jews to Parliament, the repeal of the 
Corn Laws, and the later extensions of the franchise ; but, on the 
other hand, it was their influence which compelled John to sign 
Magna Carta; it was one of their number — Simon de Montfort, 
Earl of Leicester — who called the House of Commons into being ; 
and it was the lords as leaders who inaugurated the Revolution of 
1688, and established constitutional sovereignty under William 
and Mary in the place of the arbitrary and despotic self-will of 
James II. 

It is the fashion with impatient radicals to style the Lords "titled 
obstructionists," privileged to block the way to all improvements ; 



1 About four hundred and seventy-five temporal peers and twenty-five spiritual 
peers (archbishops and bishops). 



362 LEADING FACTS OF ENGLISH HISTORY. 

but as a matter of fact they have often done the country good 
service by checking hurried and ill-considered legislation ; and 
though the time may perhaps be not very far distant when a 
hereditary House of Lords will cease to exist, yet there will always 
be need in England, as in every other civilized country, of an upper 
legislative house, composed of men whose motto is to "make 
haste slowly." 

Meanwhile, though England continues to lay strong emphasis on 
nobility of rank and blood, yet she is never forgetful of the honor 
due to nobility of character. Perhaps it is the consciousness of 
this fact which in recent times has led men like Mr. Gladstone to 
decline a title, content, as not a few of the descendants of the old 
Saxon families are, with the influence won by an unsullied name 
and a long and illustrious career. Eight hundred years ago the 
House of Lords was the only legislative and executive body in the 
country; now, nearly all the business is done in the House of 
Commons, and not a penny of money can be voted for any pur- 
pose whatever except the Commons first propose it. Thus taxa- 
tion, the most important of all measures, has passed from the peers 
to the direct representatives of the people. 1 

632. The Queen's Marriage. — In 1840 the queen, then in her 
twenty-first year, married her cousin, Prince Albert of Saxe Coburg 

1 Other measures may originate in either House, but practically nearly all begin 
with the Commons, though they require the assent of the Lords to become law. 
This, however, is now never refused for any great length of time in any important 
matter in which the people are interested. 

The following points are also of interest : — 

1. All laws relating to the rights of peers must originate in the House of Lords. 
Estate and naturalization laws also begin in the Lords. 

2. A law directly affecting the House of Commons originates in that House. 

3. There is one bill only which the crown has the right of initiating — an Act of 
General Pardon. 

When a bill has passed bcth Houses, it receives the royal assent in the following 
words (a form which probably originated with the Norman kings) : " La reigne le 
veult" (" The queen wills it so ") ; when, in the past, the royal assent was refused, 
the denial was expressed thus : " La reigne s'avisera " (" The queen will con- 
sider it"). 

The House of Lords is the Supreme Court of Appeal in the kingdom ; and it is 
the tribunal by which persons impeached by the House of Commons are tried. 



GOVERNMENT BY THE PEOPLE. 363 

Gotha, a duchy of Central Germany. 1 The prince was about her 
own age, of fine personal appearance, and had just graduated from 
one of the German universities. He was particularly interested in 
art and education, and throughout his life used his influence to 
raise the standard of both. 

633. Sir Rowland Hill's Postal Reforms. —The same year Sir 
Rowland Hill introduced a uniform system of cheap postage, by 
which rates were reduced to a penny for a single letter to any 
part of the United Kingdom. 3 Since then cheap telegrams and 
the transportation of parcels by mail (a kind of government express 
known as parcel-post) have followed, — all, improvements of im- 
mense practical benefit. 

634. Rise of the Chartists. — The feeling attending the pas- 
sage of the Reform Bill of 1832 had passed away; but now a 

1 Income of the Queen and Royal Family. — Up to the accession of 
George III. the royal income was derived from two sources : 1. Taxation ; 2. The 
rents and profits of the crown lands. George III. surrendered his right to these 
lands in return for a fixed income granted by Parliament. Since then, every sov- 
ereign has done the same. The queen's income is £385,000 ($1,863,400, calling the 
pound $4.84). The royal family receive in addition, .£156,000 ($755,040), or a total 
of £"541,000 ($2,618,440). 

The English sovereign has at present the following powers, all of which are 
practically vested in the ministry : — 

1. The power of summoning, proroguing (suspending the action of), and dissolv- 
ing Parliament at pleasure. 

2. Of refusing assent to any bill (obsolete). 

3. Of making peace, declaring war, and making treaties. 

4. Of pardoning convicted offenders ; of coining money. 

5. Of creating peers, appointing archbishops and bishops, and in general granting 
all titles of rank and honor. 

6. Of the supreme command of the army and navy. The appointment to all 
offices in the gift of the government, which was formerly in the hands of the sover- 
eign, is now under the control of the prime minister, acting in connection with che 
civil-service and other commissions. 

8 The postage even within the limits of England proper had been as high as a 
shilling (twenty-five cents). A poor woman, who wished to hear regularly from her 
brother, but who could not afford to pay this sum, hit on an ingenious plan for doing 
so without expense to either side. Sir Rowland Hill happened to learn of it, and 
was so struck by the circumstance that he at once set to work to devise a reform 
which should make it possible for the poorest to send and receive letters. See Mc« 
Carthy's Epoch of Reform, 1830-1C50. 



364 LEADING FACTS OF ENGLISH HISTORY. 

popular agitation began, which produced even greater excitement 
Although the new law had equalized parliamentary representation 
and had enlarged the franchise to a very considerable degree, yet 
the great body of workingmen were still unable to vote. A radi- 
cal party now arose, which undertook to secure further measures 
of reform. They embodied their measures in a document called 
the "People's Charter," which demanded, (1) Universal male suf- 
frage ; (2) That the voting at elections should be by ballot; (3) 
Annual Parliaments ; (4) The payment of members of Parliament ; 
(5) The abolition of the property qualification for parliamentary 
candidates ; * (6) The division of the whole country into equal 
electoral districts. The Chartists, as the advocates of these meas- 
ures called themselves, held public meetings, organized clubs, and 
published newspapers to disseminate their principles ; but for many 
years little visible progress was made by them. In 1848 the 
French revolution which dethroned King Louis Philippe imparted 
fresh impetus to the Chartist movement. The leader of it was 
Feargus O'Connor. He now formed the plan of sending a mon- 
ster petition to Parliament, containing, it was claimed, nearly five 
million signatures, praying for the passage of the charter. It 
was furthermore arranged that a procession of a million or more 
of signers should act as an escort to the document, which made a 
wagon-load in itself. The government became alarmed at the 
threatened demonstration, and forbade it, on the ground that it 
was an attempt to coerce legislation. In order that peace might 
be preserved in London, 250,000 special policemen were sworn in, 
among whom, it is said, was Louis Napoleon, then a refugee in 
England. 
The Duke of Wellington took command of a large body of 



1 Property Qualification : In 1711 an act was passed requiring candidates for 
election to the House of Commons to have an income of not less than three hundred 
pounds derived from landed property. The object of this law was to secure members 
who would be comparatively free from the temptation of receiving bribes from the 
crown, and also to keep the landed proprietors in power to the exclusion of rich 
merchants. This law was repealed in 1858. 



GOVERNMENT BY THE PEOPLE. 365 

troops held in reserve to defend the city ; and the Bank of England, 
the Houses of Parliament, the British Museum, and other public 
buildings were made ready to withstand a siege. 

It was now the Chartists' turn to be frightened. When they 
assembled . on Kennington Common they numbered less than 
30,000 ; the procession of a million which was to march across 
Westminster bridge dwindled to half a dozen ; and the huge petition 
when unrolled and examined was found to contain only about a third 
of the boasted number of names. Further examination caused 
still greater shrinkage, for it was discovered that many of the signa- 
tures were spurious, having been put down in jest, or copied from 
grave-stones and old London directories. With that discovery the 
whole movement collapsed, and the House of Commons rang with 
"inextinguishable laughter" over the national scare. 

Still the demands of the Chartists had a solid foundation of 
good sense, which not even the blustering braggadocio of the 
leaders of the movement could wholly destroy. The reforms 
asked for were needed, and since then they have been in great 
part accomplished by the steady, quiet influence of reason and 
of time. 

The printed or written ballot has been substituted for the old 
method of electing candidates by a show of hands or by shouting 
yes or no — a method by which it was easy to make blunders, and 
equally easy to commit frauds. The property qualification has 
been abolished, so that the poorest day-laborer may now run for 
Parliament. The right of " manhood suffrage " has been, as we . 
shall see, greatly extended, and before the century closes, it is safe 
to say that every man in England will have a voice in the elec- 
tions. 

635. The Corn Laws. — At the accession of the queen pro- 
tective duties or taxes existed in Great Britain on all imported 
breadstuffs and on many manufactured articles. Sir Robert Peel, 
who became prime minister in 1841, favored a reduction in the 
last class of duties, but believed it necessary to maintain the 



366 LEADING FACTS OF ENGLISH HISTORY. 

former in order to keep up the price of grain and thus encourage 
the English farmers. The result of this mistaken policy was great 
distress among workingmen, who could not afford out of their mis- 
erable wages to pay high prices for bread. A number of philan- 
thropists led by Richard Cobden and John Bright organized an 
Anti-Corn Law League 1 to obtain the repeal of the grain duties. 

On the other hand, Ebenezer Elliott, the " Corn Law Rhymer," 
as he was popularly called, gave voice to the sufferings of the poor 
in rude but vigorous verse, which appealed to the excited feelings 
of thousands in such words as these : — 

" England ! what for mine and me, 
What hath bread- tax done for thee? 

* * * * 

Cursed thy harvests, cursed thy land, 
Hunger-stung thy skill'd right hand." 

When, however, session after session of Parliament passed and 
nothing was done for the relief of the perishing multitudes, many 
were in despair, and at meetings held to discuss measures, crowds 
joined in singing Elliott's new national anthem : — 

" When wilt Thou save the people? 

O God of mercy ! when? 
Not kings and lords, but nations ! 

Not thrones and crowns, but men ! 
Flowers of thy heart, O God, are they ! 
Let them not pass, like weeds, away ! 
Their heritage a sunless day ! 

God save the people ! " 

Still the government was not convinced ; the corn laws were 
enforced, and the situation grew daily more desperate and more 
threatening. 

636. The Irish Famine; Repeal of the Corn Laws; Free 
Trade. — At last the Irish famine opened the premier's eyes. 

1 Corn is the name given in England to wheat or other grain used for food, 
Indian corn, called maize, is seldom eaten. 



GOVERNMENT BY THE PEOPLE. 367 

When in Elizabeth's reign, Sir Walter Raleigh introduced the 
cheap but precarious potato into Ireland, his motive was one of 
pure good will. He could not foresee that it would in time 
become in that country an almost universal food, that through its 
very abundance the population would rapidly increase, and that 
then by the sudden failure of the crop terrible destitution would 
ensue. Such was the case in the summer of 1845. I* * s sa -id by 
eye-witnesses that in a single night the entire potato crop was 
destroyed by blight, and that the healthy plants were transformed 
into a mass of putrefying vegetation. Thus at one fell stroke the 
food of nearly a whole nation was cut off. 1 

In the years that followed, the famine became appalling. The 
starving peasants left their miserable huts and streamed into the 
towns for relief, only to die of hunger in the streets. 

Parliament responded nobly to the piteous calls for help, 
and voted in all no less than $50,000,000 to relieve the dis- 
tress. 2 Subscriptions were also taken up in London and the chief 
towns by which large sums were obtained, and America contrib- 
uted ship-loads of provisions and a good deal of money ; but thr 
misery was so great that even these measures failed to accomplish 
what was hoped, and when the famine was over, and its results came 
to be estimated, it was found that Ireland had lost about 2,000,000 
(or one-fourth) of her population. 3 This was the combined effect 
of starvation, of the various diseases that followed in its path, and 
of emigration. 4 In the face of such appalling facts, and of the bad 
harvests and distress in England, the prime minister could hold 
out no longer, and by a gradual process, extending from 1846 
to 1849, the obnoxious corn laws were gradually repealed with the 
exception of a trifling duty, which was finally removed in 1869. 



1 O'Connor, The Parnell Movement (The Famine). 

2 Molesworth's History of England from 1830, Vol. II. 

3 The actual number of deaths from starvation, or fever caused by insufficient 
food, was estimated at from 200,000 to 300,000. See Encyclopaedia Britannica, 
'■' Ireland." • 

4 McCarthy, History of Our Own Times, vol. 1, 



368 LEADING FACTS OF ENGLISH HISTORY. 

The beginning once made, free trade in nearly everything, except 
wine, spirits, and tobacco, followed. They were, and still are, sub- 
ject to a heavy duty, perhaps because the government believes, as 
Napoleon did, that the vices have broad backs and can comforta- 
bly carry the heaviest taxes. But, by a singular contrast, while 
nearly all goods and products now enter England free, yet Aus- 
tralia and several other colonies continue to impose duties on 
imports from the mother country. 

637. The World's Fair ; Repeal of the Window and the News- 
paper Tax; the Atlantic Cable. — In 1851 the great industrial 
exhibition known as the " World's Fair " was opened in Hyde 
Park, London. The original plan of it was conceived by Prince 
Albert ; and it proved to be not only a complete success in itself, 
but it led to many similar fairs on the part of different nations. 
For the first time in history, the products and inventions of all 
countries on the globe were brought together under one roof, in a 
gigantic structure of glass and iron called the " Crystal Palace," 
which is still in use for exhibition purposes at Sydenham, a suburb 
of London. 

The same year, the barbarous tax on light and air, known as 
the "Window Tax," was repealed; and from that date the Eng- 
lishman, whether in London or out, might enjoy his sunshine, — 
when he could get it, — without having to pay for every beam : 
a luxury, which only the rich could afford. A little later, a stamp 
tax on newspapers, which had been devised in Queen Anne's time 
in the avowed hope of crushing them out, was repealed ; and the 
result was that henceforth the workingman, as he sat by his fire- 
side, could inform himself of what the world was doing and think- 
ing, — two things of which he had before known almost nothing, 
and cared, perhaps, even less. 

To get this news of the world's life more speedily, the first 
Atlantic cable, connecting England with America, was laid in 
1858. Since then, a large part of the globe has been joined in 
like manner ; and all the great cities of every civilized land are 



GOVERNMENT BY THE PEOPLE. 369 

practically one in their knowledge of events. So many improve- 
ments have also been made in the use of electricity, not only for 
the transmission of intelligence, but as an illuminator, and more 
recently still as a motive power, that it now seems probable that 
"the age of steam " is soon to be superseded by the higher "age 
of electricity." 

638. The Opium War; the War in the Crimea; the Rebel- 
Lion in India. — Up to 1854 no wars occurred in this reign 
worthy of mention, with the exception of that with China in 
1839. At that time the Chinese emperor, either from a desire to 
put a stop to the consumption of opium in his dominions, or be- 
cause he wished to encourage the home production of the drug, 1 
prohibited its importation. As the English in India were largely 
engaged in the production of opium for the Chinese market, — 
the people of that country smoking it instead of tobacco, — the 
British government insisted that the emperor should not interfere 
with so lucrative a trade. War ensued. The Chinese, being un- 
able to contend against English gunboats, were soon forced to 
withdraw their prohibition of the foreign opium traffic ; and the 
English government, with the planters of India, reaped a golden 
reward of many millions for their deliberate violation of the rights 
of a heathen and half-civilized people. The war opened five 
important ports to British trade, and subsequent wars opened a 
number more on the rivers in the interior. 

In 1853 Turkey declared war against Russia. The latter 
power had insisted on protecting all Christians in the Turkish 
dominions against the oppression of the sultan. England and 
France considered the czar's championship of the Christians as a 
mere pretext for occupying Turkish territory. To prevent this 

1 By far the greater part of the opium consumed in China is now raised, either 
with or without the full consent of the government, by the Chinese themselves. 
The probability is that before many years the home production will supply the 
entire demand, and thus exclude importations of the drug from India. It is esti- 
mated that about one hundred millions of the population of China are addicted to 
opium-smoking. 



3/0 LEADING FACTS OF ENGLISH HISTORY. 

aggression they formed an alliance with the sultan, which resulted 
in the Russo-Turkish war, and ended by the taking of Sebastopol 
by the allied forces. Russia was obliged to retract her demands ; 
and peace was declared in the spring of 1856. 

The following year was memorable for the outbreak of the 
Sepoy rebellion in India. The real cause of the revolt was prob- 
ably a long- smothered feeling of resentment on the part of the 
Sepoy, or native, troops against English rule, — a feeling that 
dates back to the extortion and misgovernment of Warren Hast- 
ings. The immediate cause of the uprising was the introduction 
of an improved rifle using a greased cartridge, which had to be 
bitten off before being rammed down. To the Hindoo the fat 
of cattle or swine is an abomination ; and his religion forbids his 
tasting it. An attempt on the part of the government to enforce 
the use of the new cartridge brought on a general mutiny. Dur- 
ing the revolt, the native troops perpetrated the most horrible 
atrocities on the English women and children who fell into their 
hands. When the insurrection was finally quelled under Have- 
lock and Campbell, the English soldiers retaliated by binding 
numbers of prisoners to the mouths of cannon and blowing them 
to shreds. At the close of the rebellion, the government of India 
was wholly transferred to the crown; and in 1876 the queen re- 
ceived the title of Empress of India. 

639. Death of Prince Albert ; the American Civil War. — 

Late in 1861 the prince consort died suddenly. In him the 
nation lost an earnest promoter of social, educational, and indus- 
trial reforms ; and the United States, a true and judicious friend, 
who at a most critical period in the Civil War used his influence 
to maintain peace between the two countries. 

Since his death the queen has held no court ; and so complete 
has been her seclusion that in 1868 a radical member of Parlia- 
ment moved that her majesty be invited to abdicate or choose a 
regent. The motion was indignantly rejected; but it revealed 
the feeling which quite generally exists, that " the real queen died 
with her husband, and that only her shadow remains." 



GOVERNMENT BY THE PEOPLE. 37 1 

In the spring of the year (1861) in which Prince Albert died, 
civil war broke out between the Northern and Southern States of 
the American Union. A few weeks later, the queen issued a 
proclamation declaring her "determination to maintain a strict 
and impartial neutrality in the contest between the said contend- 
ing parties." The rights of belligerents — in other words, all 
the rights of war according to the law of nations — were granted 
to the South equally with the North ; and her majesty's subjects 
were warned against aiding either side in the conflict. 

The progress of the war caused terrible distress in Lancashire, 
owing to the cutting-ofF of supplies of cotton for the mills through the 
blockade of the ports of the Confederate States. The starving weav- 
ers, however, gave their moral support to the North, and continued 
steadfast to the cause of the Union even in the sorest period of 
their suffering. The great majority of the manufacturers and 
business classes generally, the Liverpool merchants, the nobility, 
with a few exceptions, and most of the distinguished political and 
social leaders, in Parliament and out, with nearly all the influential 
journals, sympathized with the efforts of the South to establish an 
independent confederacy. 1 Late in the autumn of 1861 Captain 
Wilkes, of the United States Navy, boarded the British mail- 
steamer Trent, and seized Messrs. Mason and Slidell, Confederate 
commissioners, on their way to England. When intelligence of 
the act was conveyed to President Lincoln, he expressed his un- 
qualified disapproval of it, saying : " This is the very thing the 
British captains used to do. They claimed the right of searching 

1 Lord John Russell (Foreign Secretary), Lord Brougham, Sir John Bowring, 
Carlyle, Ruskin, the London Times and Punch, espoused the cause of the South 
more or less openly ; while others, like Mr. Gladstone, declared their full belief in 
the ultimate success of the Confederacy. 

On the other hand, Prince Albert, John Bright, John Stuart Mill, Professor New- 
man, and the London Daily News defended the cause of the North. 

After the death of President Lincoln, Punch manfully acknowledged (see issue 
of May 6, 1865), that it had been altogether wrong in its estimate of him and his 
measures ; and Mr. Gladstone, in his " Kin beyond Sea " in " Gleanings of Past 
Years," paid a noble tribute to the course pursued by America since the close of 
the war. 



372 LEADING FACTS OF ENGLISH HISTORY. 

American ships, and carrying men out of them. That was the 
cause of the War of 1812. Now, we cannot abandon our own 
principles ; we shall have to give up these men, and apologize 
for what we have done." 

Accordingly, on a demand made by the British government, — 
a demand which, through the influence of the prince consort, and 
with the approval of the queen, was couched in most conciliatory 
language, — the commissioners were given up, and an apology 
made by Secretary Seward. 

During the progress of the war, a number of fast-sailing vessels 
were fitted out in Great Britain, and employed in running the 
blockade of the Southern ports, for the purpose of supplying 
them with arms, ammunition, and manufactured goods of various 
kinds. Later, several gunboats were built in British shipyards 
by agents of the Confederate government, for the purpose of 
attacking the commerce of the United States. The most famous 
of these privateers was the Alabama, built expressly for the 
Confederate sendee by Laird, of Liverpool, armed with British 
cannon, and manned chiefly by British sailors. Though notified 
of her true character, Lord Palmerston, then prime minister, 
allowed her to leave port, satisfied with the pretext that she 
was going on a trial trip. 1 She set sail on her career of destrjgpi 
tion, and soon drove nearly every American merchant vesseHBom 
the seas. In the summer of 1864 she was defeated anisunk by 
the United States gunboat Kearsarge. After the war tOf govern- 
ment of the United States demanded damages from Great Britain 
for losses caused by the Alabama and other English-built pri- 
vateers. A treaty was agreed to by the two nations ; and by its 
provisions an international court was held at Geneva, Switzer- 
land, which awarded $15,500,000 in gold as compensation to the 
United States, which was duly paid. The most important result 
of this treaty and tribunal was that they established a precedent 



1 The queen's advocate gave his opinion that the Alabama should be detained ; 
but it reached the Foreign Secretary (Lord Russell) just after she had put to sea. 



GOVERNMENT BY THE PEOPLE. 373 

for settling by arbitration on equitable and amicable terms what- 
ever questions might arise in future between the two nations. 1 

640. The Second Reform Bill ; Woman Suffrage ; Admission 
pf Jews to Parliament. — Excellent as was the Reform Bill of 
1832, 2 many thoughtful men felt that it did not go far enough. 
There was also great need of municipal reform, since in many 
cities the tax-payers had no voice in the management of local 
affairs, and the city officers spent the income of large charitable 
funds in feasting and merry-making while the poor got little or 
nothing. In 1835 a law was passed giving tax-payers in such 
cities 3 control of municipal elections. By a subsequent amend- 
ment, the ballot in such cases was extended to women, 4 and for 
the first time perhaps in modern history woman suffrage was for- 
mally granted by supreme legislative act. A number of years later, 
the political restrictions imposed on the Jews were removed. Up 
to this time (1858) this class of citizens, though very wealthy and 
influential in London and some other cities, and although entitled 
to vote and hold municipal office, were yet debarred from Parlia- 
ment by a law which required them to make oath " on the faith of 
a Christian." This law was now so modified that Baron Rothschild 
took his seat among the legislators of the country. 5 

In 1867 Mr. Disraeli (afterward Earl of Beaconsfield) , the 
leader of the Tory, or Conservative, party, brought in a second 
Reform Bill, which became a law. This provided what is called 
" household suffrage," or, in other words, gave the right to vote to 

1 This treaty imposed duties on neutral governments of a far more stringent 
sort than Great Britain had hitherto been willing to concede. It resulted, further- 
more, in the passage of an act of Parliament, punishing with severe penalties such 
illegal ship-building as that of the Alabama. See Sheldon Amos, Fifty Years of 
the English Constitution, 1830-1880. 

2 See Paragraph No. 625. 

3 This municipal act did not include the city of London. 

4 Woman suffrage was granted to single women and widows (householders) in 
1869. In .1870 an act was passed enabling them to vote at school-board elections, 
and also to become members of such boards. 

6 See Macaulay's Essays, " Civil Disabilities of the Jews." . 



374 LEADING FACTS OF ENGLISH HISTORY. 

every householder in all the towns of the kingdom who paid a tax 
for the support of the poor, and to all lodgers paying a rental of 
;£io ($50) yearly; it also increased the number of voters among 
small property-holders in counties. 

There still, however, remained a large class in the country. dis- 
tricts for whom nothing had been done. The men who tilled the 
soil were miserably poor and miserably ignorant. Joseph Arch, 
a Warwickshire farm laborer, who had been educated by hunger 
and toil, succeeded in establishing a national union among men of 
his class, of which he became president, and eventually, mainly 
through his efforts, they secured the ballot. Since then, under 
the Liberal ministry of Mr. Gladstone, a third Reform Bill has 
been passed, 1 which went into operation in 1886, by which all 
residents of counties throughout the United Kingdom have the 
right to vote on the same condition as those of towns. 

It is estimated that this law added about two and a half millions 
of voters, and that there is now one voter to every six persons of 
the total population, whereas, before the passing of the first Reform 
Bill (1832), there was not over one in fifty. In the first " People's 
Parliament," in 1886, Joseph Arch, and several others, were re- 
turned as representatives of classes of the population who, up to 
that date, had had no voice in the legislation of the country. One 
step more, and a short one, and Great Britain, like America, will 
have universal "manhood suffrage." 

641. Abolition of Compulsory Church Rates ; Disestablishment 
of the Irish Episcopal Church; the Education Act. — While these 
reforms were taking place with respect to elections, others of great 
importance were also being effected. Since its establishment the 
Church of England had compelled all persons, of whatever belief, 
to pay taxes for the maintenance of the church of the parish where 
they resided. Methodists, Baptists, and other Dissenters, objected 
to this law as unjust, since in addition to the expense of support- 
ing their own form of worship, they were obliged to contribute 

1 The Representation Act. 



GOVERNMENT BY THE PEOPLE. 375 

toward maintaining one with which they had no sympathy. So 
great had the opposition become to paying their " church rates," 
that in 1859 there were over fifteen hundred parishes in England 
in which the authorities could not collect them. After much agita- 
tion a law was finally passed abolishing this mode of tax, and 
making the payment of rates purely voluntary. 1 A similar act of 
justice was soon after granted to Ireland. 2 At the time of the 
union of the two countries in 1800, 3 the maintenance of the Protes- 
tant Episcopal Church continued to remain obligatory upon the 
Irish people, although only a very small part of them were of that 
faith. Mr. Gladstone's law disestablishing this branch of the 
national church left all religious denominations in Ireland to the 
voluntary support of those who belonged to them, so that hence- 
forth the English resident in that country can no longer claim the 
privilege of worshipping God at the expense of his Roman Cath- 
olic neighbor. 

In 1870 a system of common schools was established through- 
out the kingdom under the direction of a government board, and 
hence popularly known as "Board Schools." Up to this date 
most of the children of the poor had been educated in schools 
maintained by the Church of England, the various dissenting 
denominations, and by charitable associations, or such endowments 
as those of Edward VI. 4 It was found, however, that more than 
half of the children of the country were not reached by these in- 
stitutions, but were growing up in such a state of dense ignorance, 
that in the agricultural districts a large proportion could neither 
read nor write. By the " Board Schools " elementary unsectarian 
instruction is made compulsory, and though not wholly free, it is 
so nearly so that it is brought within the means of the poorest. 
A year later the universities and colleges, with most of the offices 

1 Church rates were levied on all occupiers of land or houses within the parish. 
They were abolished in 1868. The Church of England is now mainly supported 
by a tax on landowners, and by its endowments. 

2 The Disestablishment Bill was passed in 1869, and took effect in 1871. 
8 See Paragraph No. 609. 4 See Paragraph No. 417. 



376 LEADING FACTS OF ENGLISH HISTORY. 

and professorships connected with them, were thrown open to all 
persons without regard to religious belief; whereas, formerly, no 
one could graduate from Oxford or Cambridge without subscribing 
to the doctrines of the Church of England. 

642. The First Irish Land Act. — The same year (1870) that 
the government undertook to provide for the education of the 
masses, Mr. Gladstone, then prime minister and head of the Lib- 
eral party, brought in a bill for the relief of the Irish peasantry. 
The circumstances under which land was held in Ireland were 
peculiar. A very large part — in fact about all the best of that 
island — was, and still is, owned by Englishmen whose ancestors 
obtained it through the wholesale confiscations of Cromwell, 
James I., and later sovereigns, in punishment for rebellion. Very 
few English landlords have cared to live in the country or to do 
anything for its improvement. Their overseers believed they did 
their whole duty when they forced the farm tenants to pay the 
largest amount of rent that could be wrung from them, and they 
had it in their power to dispossess a tenant of his land whenever 
they saw fit, without giving a reason for the act. If by his labor 
the tenant made the land more fertile, he reaped no profit from 
his industry, for the rent was at once increased, and swallowed 
up all that he raised. Such a system of extortion was destruc- 
tive to the peasant farmer, and produced nothing for him but 
misery and discontent. The new law endeavored to remedy these 
evils by providing that if a landlord ejected a rent-paying tenant, 
he should pay him damages, and also allow him a fair sum for 
whatever improvements he had made. In addition, provision was 
made for a ready means of arbitration between landlord and 
tenant, and the tenant who failed to pay an exorbitant rate was 
not to be hastily or unjustly driven from the land. 

643. Distress in Ireland; the Land League. — It was hoped 
by the friends of the measure that the new law would be pro- 
ductive of relief; but from 1876 to 1879 tne potato crop failed in 
Ireland, and the country seemed threatened with a famine like 



GOVERNMENT BY THE PEOPLE. 37/ 

that of 1845. Thousands who could not get the means to 
pay even a moderate rent, much less the amounts demanded, 
were now forced to leave their cabins and seek shelter in the 
bogs, with the prospect of dying there of starvation. This state 
of things led a number of influential Irishmen to form a Land 
League, which had for its object the abolition of the present land- 
lord system, and the securing of such legislation as should eventu- 
ally result in giving the Irish peasantry possession of the soil they 
cultivated. 

Later, the League came to have a membership of several hundred 
thousand persons, extending over the greater part of Ireland. Find- 
ing that it was difficult to get parliamentary help for their griev- 
ances, the League resolved to try a different kind of tactics. Ac- 
cordingly they formed a compact not to work for, buy from, sell to, 
or have any intercourse with, such landlords, or their agents, or with 
any other person, who extorted exorbitant rent, ejected tenants un- 
able to pay, or took possession of land from which tenants had been 
unjustly driven. This process of social excommunication was first 
tried on an English agent, or overseer, named Boycott, and soon 
became famous under the name of " boycotting." As the struggle 
went on, many of the suffering poor became desperate. Farm 
buildings, belonging to landlords and their agents, were burned, 
cattle horribly mutilated, and a number of the agents shot. At 
the same time the cry rose of No Rent, Death to the Landlords ! 
Hundreds of tenants now refused to pay for the places they held, 
and even attacked those who did. Eventually the lawlessness of 
the country provoked the government to take severe measures; 
the Land League, which was believed to be responsible for the 
refusal to pay rent, and for the accompanying outrages, was sup- 
pressed ; but the feeling which gave rise to it could not be extin- 
guished, and it soon burst forth more violently than ever. 

644. The Second Irish Land Act; Fenian and Communist 
Outrages. — In i88t Mr. Gladstone succeeded in carrying through 
a second land law, which it was hoped might be more effective in 



378 LEADING FACTS OF ENGLISH HISTORY. 

relieving the Irish peasants than the first had been. This meas- 
ure is familiarly known as the "Three F's," — Fair- rent, Fixity-of- 
tenure, and Free-sale. By the provisions of this act the tenant 
may appeal to a board of land commissioners appointed by the 
law to fix the rate of his rent in case the demands made by the 
landlord seem to him excessive. Next, he can continue to hold 
his farm, provided he pays the rate determined on, for a period 
of fifteen years, during which time the rent cannot be raised nor 
the tenant evicted except for violation of agreement or persistent 
neglect or waste of the land ; lastly, he may sell his tenancy when 
he sees fit to the highest bidder. 

After the passage of this second Land Act, Lord Frederick 
Cavendish, chief secretary of Ireland, and Mr. Burke, a prominent 
government official, were murdered in Phoenix Park, Dublin. Later, 
members of various secret and communistic societies perpetrated 
dynamite outrages in London and other parts of England for the 
purpose of intimidating the government. These dastardly plots 
for destruction and murder have been denounced with horror by 
the leaders of the Irish National Party, who declare that "the 
cause of Ireland is not to be served by the knife of the assassin or 
the infernal machine." Notwithstanding the vindictive feeling 
which these rash acts have caused, despite also of the passage of 
the coercion bill of 1887, the majority of the more intelligent and 
thoughtful of the Irish people have faith that the logic of events 
will ultimately obtain for them the full enjoyment of those political 
rights which England so fully possesses, and which she cannot, 
without being false to herself, deny to her sister-island. 

645. The Leading Names in Science, Literature, and Art. — 

In the progress of science the present age has had no equal in the 
past history of England, except in the discovery of the law of grav- 
itation by Sir Isaac Newton. That great thinker demonstrated that 
all forms of matter, great or small, near or distant, are governed by 
one universal law. In like manner the researches of the past fifty 
years have virtually established the belief that all material forms, 



GOVERNMENT BY THE PEOPLE. 379 

whether living or not, obey an equally universal law of develop- 
ment, by which the higher are derived from the lower through 
a succession of gradual but progressive changes. 

This conception originated long before the beginning of the 
Victorian era, but it lacked the acknowledged support of carefully 
examined facts, and was regarded by most sensible men as a plau- 
sible but untenable idea. The thinker who did more than any other 
to supply the facts, and to put the theory, so far as it relates to 
natural history, on a solid and lasting foundation, was the distin- 
guished English naturalist, Charles Darwin, 1 who died in 1882^ 
and found an honored resting-place in Westminster Abbey, near 
the graves of the well-known geologist, Sir Charles Lyell, and Liv- 
ingstone, the African explorer. 

On his return in 1837 from a voyage of scientific discovery round 
the world, he began to examine and classify the facts which he 
had collected, and continued to collect, relating to natural history. 
After twenty-two years of uninterrupted labor he published a work 
("The Origin of Species ") in 1859 in which he showed that animal 
life owes its course of development to the struggle for existence 
and " the survival of the fittest." Darwin's work may truthfully be 
said to have wrought a revolution in the study of nature as great 
as that accomplished by Newton in the seventeenth century. 
Though calling forth the most heated and prolonged discussion, 
the Darwinian theory has gradually made its way, and is now 
generally received, though sometimes in a modified form, by 
nearly every eminent man of science throughout the world. A 
little later than the date at which Mr. Darwin began his re- 
searches, Sir William Grove, an eminent electrician, commenced a 
series of experiments which have led to a great change in our 
conceptions of matter and force. He showed that heat, light, and 
electricity are mutually convertible ; that they must be regarded as 

1 Alfred Russell Wallace, also noted as a naturalist, worked out the theory of 
evolution by " natural selection " about the same time, though not so fully with 
respect to details, as Darwin: as each of these investigators arrived at his conclu- 
sions independently of the other, the theory was thus doubly confirmed. 



38O LEADING FACTS OF ENGLISH HISTORY. 

modes of motion ; and, finally, that all force is persistent and in- 
destructible, 1 thus proving, as Professor Tyndall says, that "To 
nature, nothing can be added ; from nature, nothing can be taken 
away." Together, these, with kindred discoveries, have resulted 
in the theory of evolution, or development, which Herbert Spencer 
and others have endeavored to make the basis of a system of 
philosophy embracing the whole field of nature and life. 

In literature so many names of note are found that the mere 
enumeration of them would be impracticable here. It will be suf- 
ficient to mention the novelists, Dickens, Thackeray, Bronte, and 
" George Eliot " ; the historians, Hallam, Arnold, Grote, Ma'caulay, 
Alison, Buckle, Froude, and Freeman ; the essayists, Carlyle, Lan- 
dor, and De Quincey ; the poets, Browning and Tennyson ; the 
philosophical writers, Hamilton, Mill, and Spencer; with Lyell, 
Faraday, Carpenter, Tyndall, Huxley, and Wallace in science ; the 
eminent art-critic and writer on political economy, John Ruskin ; 
and in addition, the chief artists of the period, Millais, Rossetti, 
Bume-Jones, Watts, and Hunt. 

646. Progress in England. — The legislation of the last twenty- 
five years offers abundant evidence that Macaulay was right when 
he declared that " the history of England is the history of a great 
and progressive nation." Merely to read the records of the statute- 
book during that time would convince any person not hopelessly 
prejudiced that no people of Europe have made greater advance- 
ment than the people of Great Britain. Nor has this progress 
been confined to political reform. On the contrary, it is found in 
every department of thought and action. Since the beginning of 
the century, and, in fact, to a great degree since the accession 
of the present queen, the systems of law and judicature have been 
in large measure reconstructed. 2 This is especially evident in the 

1 An Essay on the Correlation of Physical Forces, by W. R. Grove. 

2 Twenty-five years ago the Parliamentary Statutes filled forty-four huge folio 
volumes, and the Common Law, as contained in judicial decisions dating from the 
time of Edward II., filled about twelve hundred more. The work of examining, 
digesting, and consolidating this enormous mass of legal lore was begun in 1863, 
and is still in progress. 



GOVERNMENT BY THE PEOPLE. 38 1 

Court of Chancery 1 and the criminal courts. In 1825 the prop- 
erty belonging to suitors in the former court amounted to nearly 
two hundred millions of dollars. 2 The simplest case required a 
dozen years for its settlement, while difficult ones consumed a life- 
time, or more, and were handed down from father to son — a 
legacy of baffled hopes, of increasing expense, of mental suffering 
worse than that of hereditary disease. Much has been done to 
remedy these evils, which Dickens set forth with such power in 
his novel, "Bleak House," and which at one time seemed so 
utterly hopeless that it was customary for a prize-fighter, when he 
had got his opponent wholly at his mercy, to declare that he had 
his head "in chancery"! 

In criminal courts an equal reform has taken place, and men 
accused of burglary and murder are now allowed to have counsel 
to defend them ; whereas, up to the era of the coronation of Vic- 
toria, they were obliged to plead their own cases as best they 
might against skilled public prosecutors, who used every resource 
known to the law to convict them. 

Great changes for the better have also taken place in the treat- 
ment of the insane. Until near the close of the last century, this 
unfortunate class was quite generally regarded as possessed by 
demons, and dealt with accordingly. In 1792 William Tuke, a 
member of the Society of Friends, inaugurated a better system ; 
but the old method continued for many years longer. In fact, we 
have the highest authority for saying, that down to a late period in 
the present century the inmates of many asylums were worse off 
than the most desperate criminals. They were shut up in dark, 
and often filthy, cells, where "they were chained to the wall, 
flogged, starved, and not infrequently killed." 3 Since then, all 
mechanical restraint has been abolished, and the patients are, as a 
rule, treated with the care and kindness which their condition 
demands. 

1 See Paragraph No. 195. 

2 See Walpole's History of England, Vol. III. 

3 Encyclopaedia Britannica, 9th ed., " Insanity." 



382 LEADING FACTS OF ENGLISH HISTORY. 

Immense improvement has likewise been made in the social 
condition of the people. Not only has the average wealth of the 
country greatly increased, but deposits in savings banks prove 
that the workingmen are laying away large sums which were for- 
merly spent in drink. Statistics show 1 that crime, drunkenness, and 
pauperism have materially diminished. On the other hand, free 
libraries, reading-rooms, and art-galleries have been opened in all 
the large towns. Liverpool is no longer " that black spot on the 
Mersey" which its cellar population of 40,000, and its hideous 
slums, with a population of nearly 70,000 more, once made it. 
Sanitary regulations, with house-to-house inspection, have done 
away with filth and disease, which were formerly accepted as a 
matter of course, and new safeguards now protect the health 
and life of classes of the population who were once simply mis- 
erable outcasts. Hospitals and charitable associations, with bands 
of trained nurses, provide for the sick and suffering poor. Prison 
discipline has ceased to be the terrible thing it was when Charles 
Reade wrote " Never too Late to Mend," and the convict in his 
cell no longer feels that he is utterly helpless and friendless. 

It is no exaggeration to say that the best men and the best 
minds in England, without distinction of rank or class, are now 
laboring for the advancement of the people. They see, what has 
never been so clearly seen before, that the nation is a unit, that 
the welfare of each depends ultimately on the welfare of all, and that 
the higher a man stands, and the greater his wealth and privileges, 
so much the more is he bound to extend a helping hand to those 
less favored than himself. Undoubtedly the weak point in England 
is the fact that a few thousand of her population own all the land 
which thirty millions live upon, 2 and here lies the great danger of 
the future. Yet aside from that hot-headed socialism which insists 
alike on the abolition of rank and of private property in land, 
there has thus far been little disposition to violent action. Eng- 
land, by nature conservative, is slow to break the bond of historic 

1 See Ward, Reign of Queen Victoria. 2 See Statistics, page 409! 



GOVERNMENT BY THE PEOPLE. 383 

continuity which connects her present with her past. " Do you 
think we shall ever have a second revolution?" the Duke of Wel- 
lington was once asked. "We may," answered the great general, 
" but if we do, it will come by act of Parliament." That reply 
probably expresses the general temper of the people, who believe 
that they can gain by the ballot more than they can by an appeal 
to force, knowing that theirs is — 

" A land of settled government, 
A land of just and old renown, 
Where freedom broadens slowly down, 
From precedent to precedent.' 



» 1 



647. General Summary of the Rise of the English People. — 

Such is the condition of England near the close of the nineteenth 
century, in the jubilee year of the Victorian era. 2 If we pause now 
and look back to the time when the island of Britain first became 
inhabited, we shall see the successive steps which have trans- 
formed a few thousand barbarians into a great and powerful em- 
pire. 3 

1. Judging from the remains of their flint implements and 
weapons, we have every reason to suppose that the original popu- 
lation of Britain was in no respect superior to the American 
Indians that Columbus found in the New World. They had 
the equality which everywhere prevails among savages, where all 
are alike ignorant, alike poor, and alike miserable. The tribal 
unity which bound them together in hostile clans resembled that 
found among a pack of wolves or a herd of buffalo : — it was in- 
stinctive rather than intelligent, and sprang from necessity rather 



1 Tennyson's " You ask me why." 

2 The queen celebrated her jubilee year on the 21st of June, 1887, by services 
held in Westminster Abbey. It is to be regretted that the occasion could not also 
have been celebrated by the beginning of some national work for the welfare of 
the people, such as might have given her majesty an opportunity to commemo- 
rate her long and prosperous reign in the glad remembrance of thousands of grate- 
ful hearts. 

8 See Map No. 14, page 382. 



384 LEADING FACTS OF ENGLISH HISTORY. 

than from independent choice. Gradually these tribes learned to 
make tools and weapons of bronze, and to some extent even oi 
iron \ then they ceased the wandering life of men who live by hunt- 
ing and fishing, and began to cultivate the soil, raise herds of 
cattle, and live in rudely fortified towns. Such was their condi- 
tion when Caesar invaded the island, and when the power of Roman 
armies and Roman civilization reduced the aborigines to a state 
but little better than that of the most abject slavery. When, after 
several centuries of occupation, the Roman power was withdrawn, 
we find that the race they had subjugated had gained nothing 
from their conquerors, but that, on the other hand, they had lost 
much of their native courage and manhood. 

2. With the Saxon invasion the true history of the country may 
be said to begin. The fierce blue-eyed German race living on the 
shores of the Baltic and of the North Sea, brought with them a 
love of liberty and a power to defend it which even the Romans 
in their continental campaigns had not been able to subdue. They 
laid the foundations of a new nation ; their speech, their laws, their 
customs, became permanent, and by them the Britain of the Celts 
and the Romans was baptized with that name of England which 
it has ever since retained. 

3. Five hundred years later came the Norman Conquest. By 
it the Saxons were temporarily brought into subjection to a people 
who, though they spoke a different language, sprang originally from 
the same Germanic stock as themselves. 

This conquest introduced higher elements of civilization, the life 
of England was to a certain extent united with the broader and 
more cultivated life of the continent, and the feudal or military 
tenure of the land, which had begun among the Saxons, was fully 
organized and developed. At the same time the king became the 
real head of the government, which before was practically in the 
hands of the nobles, who threatened to split it up into a self- 
destructive anarchy. 

The most striking feature of this period was the fact that politi- 
cal liberty depended wholly on the possession of the soil. The 



GOVERNMENT BY THE PEOPLE. 385 

landless man was a slave or a serf; in either case, so far as the 
state was concerned, his rank was simply zero. Above him there 
was, properly speaking, no English people ; that is, no great body 
of inhabitants united by common descent, by participation in the 
government, by common interests, by pride of nationality and love 
of country. On the contrary, there were only classes separated by 
strongly marked lines — ranks of clergy, or ranks of nobles, with 
their dependents. Those who owned and ruled the country were 
Normans, speaking a different tongue from those below, and look- 
ing upon them with that contempt with which the victor regards 
the vanquished, while those below returned the feeling with sullen 
hate and fear. 

4. The rise of the people was obscure and gradual. It began 
in the conflicts between the barons and the crown. In those con- 
tests both parties needed the help of the working classes. To get 
it each side made haste to grant some privilege to those whose 
assistance they required. Next, the foreign wars had no small 
influence, since friendly relations naturally sprang up between those 
who fought side by side, and the Saxon yeoman and the Norman 
knight henceforth felt that England was their common home, and 
that in her cause they must forget differences of rank and blood. 

It was, however, in the provisions of the Great Charter that the 
people first gained legal recognition. When the barons forced 
King John to issue that document, they found it expedient to 
protect the rights of all. For that reason, the great nobles and 
the clergy made common cause with peasants, tradesmen, and 
serfs. Finally, the rise of the free cities secured to their inhabi- 
tants many of the privileges of self-government, while the Wat 
Tyler insurrection of a later period led eventually to the emanci- 
pation of that numerous class which was bound to the soil. 

5. But the real unity of the people first showed itself unmis- 
takably in consequence of a new system of taxation, levied on per- 
sons of small property as well as on the wealthy landholders. The 
moment the government laid hands on the tradesman's and the 
laborer's pockets, they demanded to have a share in legislation.., 



386 LEADING FACTS OF ENGLISH HISTORY. 

Out of that demand sprang the House of Commons, a body, as its 
name implies, made up of representatives chosen mainly from the 
people and by the people. 

The great contest now was for the power to levy taxes — if the 
king could do it he might take the subject's money when he 
pleased ; if Parliament alone had the control in this matter, then it 
would be as they pleased. Little by little not only did Parliament 
obtain the coveted power, but that part of Parliament which 
directly represented the people got it, and it was finally settled that 
no tax could be demanded save by their vote. This victory, how- 
ever, was not gained except by a long and bitter conflict, in which 
sometimes one and sometimes the other of the contestants got the 
best of it, and in which also Jack Cade's insurrection in behalf of 
free elections had its full influence. But though temporarily 
beaten, the people never quite gave up the struggle; thus "the 
murmuring Parliament of Mary became the grumbling Parliament 
of Elizabeth, and finally the rebellious and victorious Parlia- 
ment of Charles I.," when the executioner's axe settled the ques- 
tion who was to rule, set up a short-lived but vigorous republic. 

6. Meanwhile a great change had taken place in the condition 
of the aristocracy. The wars of the Roses had destroyed the power 
of the Norman barons, and the Tudors — especially Henry VIII. 
by his action in suppressing the monasteries, and granting the 
lands to his favorites — virtually created a new aristocracy, many 
of whom sprang from the ranks of the people. 

Under Cromwell, the republic practically became a monarchy, — 
though Cromwell was at heart no monarchist ; all power was in 
the hands of the Army, with the Protector at its head. After the 
restoration of the monarchy, the government of the country was 
carried on mainly by the two great political parties, the Whigs and 
the Tories, representing the Cavaliers and Roundheads, or the 
aristocratic and people's parties of the civil war. With the flight of 
James II., the passage of the Bill of Rights and the Act of Settle- 
ment, Parliament set aside the regular hereditary order of succes- 
sion, and established a new order, in which the sovereign was 



GOVERNMENT BY THE PEOPLE. 387 

made dependent on the people for his right to rule. Next, the 
Mutiny Bill put the power of the army practically into the hands 
of Parliament, which already held full control of the purse. The 
Toleration Act granted liberty of worship, and the abolition of the 
censorship of the press gave freedom to expression. With the 
coming in of George I., the king ceased to appoint his cabinet, 
leaving its formation to his prime minister. Hereafter the cabinet 
no longer met with the king, and the executive functions of the 
government were conducted, to a constantly increasing extent, 
without his taking any active part in them. Still, though the 
people through Parliament claimed to rule, yet the great land- 
holders, and especially the Whig nobility, held the chief power ; 
the sovereign, it is true, no longer tried to govern in spite of 
Parliament, but by controlling elections and legislation he managed 
to govern through it. 

7. With the invention of the steam-engine, and the growth of 
great manufacturing towns in the central and northern counties 
of England, many thousands of the population were left without 
representation. Their demands to have this inequality righted 
resulted in the Reform Bill of 1832, which broke up in great meas- 
ure the political monopoly hitherto enjoyed by the landholders and 
aristocracy, and distributed the power among the middle classes. 
The accession of Queen Victoria established the principle that 
the cabinet should be held directly responsible to the major- 
ity of the House of Commons, and that they should not be 
appointed contrary to the wish, or dismissed contrary to the con- 
sent, of that majority. By the Reform Bills of 1867 and 1884, 
the suffrage has been greatly extended, so that, practically, the 
centre of political gravity which was formerly among the wealthy 
and privileged classes, and which passed from them to the manu- 
facturing and mercantile population, has shifted to the working 
classes, who now possess the balance of power in England almost 
as completely as they do in America. Thus we see that by 
gradual steps those who once had few or no rights, have come 



388 LEADING FACTS OF ENGLISH HISTORY. 

to be the masters ; and though England continues to be a mon- 
archy in name, yet it is well-nigh a republic in fact. 

In feudal times the motto of knighthood was Noblesse oblige — 
or, nobility of rank demands nobility of character. To-day the 
motto of every free nation should be, Liberty is Responsibility, for 
henceforth both in England and America the people who govern 
are bound, by their own history and their own declared principles, 
to use their opportunities to govern well. 

The danger of the past lay in the tyranny of the minority, that 
of the present is the tyranny of the majority. The great problem 
of our time is to learn how to reconcile the interests of each with 
the welfare of all. To do that, whether on an island or on a con- 
tinent, in England or America, is to build up the kingdom of jus- 
tice and good will upon the earth. 

648. Characteristics of English History; the Unity of the 
English-Speaking Race; Conclusion. — This rapid and imperfect 
sketch shows what has been accomplished by the people of Britain. 
Other European peoples may have developed earlier, and made 
perhaps more rapid advances in certain forms of civilization, but 
none have surpassed, nay, none have equalled, the English-speak- 
ing race in the practical character and permanence of their prog- 
ress. Guizot says l the true order of national development in free 
government is, first, to convert the natural liberties of man into 
clearly denned political rights ; and, next, to guarantee the secu- 
rity of those rights by the establishment of forces capable of 
maintaining them. Nowhere do we find better illustrations of 
this law of progress than in the history of England, and of the 
colonies which England has planted. Trial by jury, 2 the legal 
right to resist oppression, 3 legislative representation, 4 religious free- 
dom, 5 and, finally, the principle that all political power is a trust 
held for the public good 6 — these are the assured results of Anglo- 

1 Guizot's History of Representative Government, Lecture VI. 

2 See Paragraph No. 227. 3 See Paragraph No. 313. 

4 See Paragraph No. 265. s See Paragraph No. 548, and note 2. 

6 See Macaulay's Essay on Walpole. 



GOVERNMENT BY THE PEOPLE. 389 

Saxon growth, and the legitimate heritage of every nation of 
Anglo-Saxon descent. 

Here, in America, we sometimes lose sight of what those have 
done for us who occupied the world before we came into it. We 
forget that English history is in a very large degree our history, 
and that England is, as Hawthorne liked to call it, " our old 
home." In fact, if we go back less than three centuries, the 
record of America becomes one with that of the mother country, 
which first discovered 1 and first permanently settled this, and 
which gave us for leaders and educators Washington, Franklin, the 
Adamses, and John Harvard. In descent, by far the greater part 
of us are of English blood; 2 while in language, literature, law, 
legislative forms of government, and the essential features of civili- 
zation, we all owe to England a greater debt than to any other 
country; and without a knowledge of her history we cannot rightly 
understand our own. Standing on her soil we possess practically 
the same personal rights that we do here ; we speak the same 
tongue, we meet with the same familiar names. We feel that 
whatever is glorious in her past is ours also ; that Westminster 
Abbey belongs as much to us as to her, for our ancestors helped 
to build its walls, and their dust is gathered in its tombs; that 
Shakespeare and Milton belong to us in like manner, for they 
wrote in the language we speak, for the instruction and delight of 
our fathers' fathers, who beat back the Spanish Armada, and gave 
their lives for liberty on the fields of Marston Moor and Naseby. 

Let it be granted that grave issues have arisen in the past to 
separate us ; yet, after all, our interests and our sympathies, like 



1 See Paragraphs No. 387 and No. 473. 

2 In 1840 the population of the United States, in round numbers, was 17,000,000, 
of whom the greater part were probably of English descent. Since then there has 
been an enormous immigration, forty per cent of which was from the British Islands ; 
but it is perhaps safe to say that three-quarters of our present population of 60,000,000 
are those who were living here in 1840, with their descendants. Of the immigrants 
coming from non-English-speaking races, the Germans predominate, and it is to 
them, as we have seen, that the English owe their origin, they being in fact but a 
modification of the Teutonic race. 



390 LEADING FACTS OF ENGLISH HISTORY. 

our national histories, have more in common than they have apart. 
The progress of each country now reacts for good on the other. If 
we consider the total combined population of the United States and 
of the British Empire, we find that to-day upwards of one hundred 
millions of people speak the English tongue, and are governed by 
the fundamental principles of English constitutional law. They 
hold possession of over twelve millions of square miles of the 
earth's surface — an area nearly equal to the united continents of 
North America and Europe. By far the greater part of the wealth 
and power of the globe is theirs. They have expanded by their 
territorial and colonial growth as no other people have. They 
have absorbed and assimilated the millions of emigrants from every 
race and of every tongue which have poured into their dominions. 
The result is, that the inhabitants of the British islands, of Aus- 
tralia, New Zealand, the United States and Canada, practically 
form one great Anglo-Saxon race, diverse in origin, separated by 
distance, but everywhere exhibiting the same spirit of intelligent 
enterprise and of steady, resistless growth. Thus considered, 
America and England are necessary one to the other. Their inter- 
ests now and in the future are essentially the same. 

In view of these facts let us say, with an eminent thinker, 1 
whose intellectual home is on both sides the Atlantic, " Whatever 
there be between the two nations to forget and forgive, is forgotten 
and forgiven. If the two peoples, which are one, be true to their 
duty, who can doubt that the destinies of the world are in their 
hands?" 

1 Archdeacon Farrar, Address on General Grant, Westminster Abbey, 1885. 



GENERAL SUMMARY OF ENGLISH CONSTITUTIONAL 
HISTORY. 1 

1. Origin and Primitive Government of the English People. 

The main body of the English people did not originate in Britain, but 
in Northwestern Germany. The Jutes, Saxons, and Angles were inde- 
pendent, kindred tribes living on the banks of the Elbe and its vicinity. 

They had no written laws, but obeyed time-honored customs which 
had all the force of laws. All matters of public importance were de- 
cided by each tribe at meetings held in the open air. There every 
freeman had an equal voice in the decision. There the people chose 
their rulers and military leaders ; they discussed questions of peace and 
war; finally, acting as a high court of justice, they tried criminals and 
settled disputes about property. 

In these rude methods we see the beginning of the English Constitu- 
tion. Its growth has been the slow work of centuries, but the great 
principles underlying it have never changed. At every stage of their 
progress the English people and their descendants throughout the 
globe have claimed the right of self-government ; and, if we except the 
period of the Norman Conquest, whenever that right has been persist- 
ently withheld or denied the people have risen in arms and. regained it. 

2. Conquest of Britain; Origin and Power of the King. — After 
the Romans abandoned Britain the English invaded the island, and 
in the course of a hundred and fifty years (449-600) conquered it and 
established a number of rival settlements. The native Britons were, in 
great part, killed off or driven to take refuge in Wales and Cornwall. 

The conquerors brought to their new home the methods of govern- 
ment and modes of life to which they had been accustomed in Ger- 
many. A cluster of towns — that is, a small number of enclosed 2 habi- 
tations — formed a hundred (a district having either a hundred families 
or able to furnish a hundred warriors) ; a cluster of hundreds formed a 
shire or county. Each of these divisions had its public meeting, com- 
posed of all its freemen or their representatives, for the management of 
its own affairs. But a state of war — for the English tribes fought each 
other as well as fought the Britons — made a strong central government 
necessary. For this reason the leader of each tribe was made king. 
At first he was chosen, at large, by the entire tribe ; later, unless there 
was some good reason for a different choice, the king's eldest son was 
selected as his successor. Thus the right to rule was practically fixed 
in the line of a certain family descent. 

The ruler of each of these petty kingdoms was (1) the commander- 
in-chief in war ; (2) he was the supreme judge. 

1 This Summary is inserted for the benefit of those who desire a compact, connected view 
of the development of the English Constitution, such as may be conveniently used either for 
reference, for a general review of the subject, or for purposes of special study. — D. H. M. 

For authorities, see Stubbs (449-1485); Hallam (1485-1760) ; May ( 1 760-1870) ; Amos 
(1870-1880) ; see also Hansard's and Cobbett's Parliamentary History, the works of Freeman, 
Taswell-Langmead (the best one-volume Constitutional History), Feilden ("as a convenient 
reference-book this manual has no equal), and Ransome, in the List of Books on page 404. 

The references at the bottom of the page are to the body of the History unless otherwise 
stated. 

2 See page 56, Paragraph 139. 

39 1 



39 2 



LEADING FACTS OF ENGLISH HISTORY. 



3. The Witenagemot, or General Council. — In all other re- 
spects the king's authority was limited — except when he was strong 
enough to get his own way — by the Witenagemot, or General Coun- 
cil. This body consisted of the chief men of each kingdom acting in 
behalf of its people. 1 It exercised the following powers : (i) it elected 
the king, and if the people confirmed the choice, he was crowned. 
(2) If the king proved unsatisfactory, the council might depose him 
and choose a successor. (3) The king, with the consent of the coun- 
cil, made the laws — that is, he declared the customs of the tribe. 
(4) The king, with the council, appointed the chief officers of the king- 
dom (after the introduction of Christianity this included the bishops) ; 
but the king alone appointed the sheriff, to represent him, and collect 
the revenue in each shire. (5) The council confirmed or denied grants 
of portions of the public lands made by the king to private persons. 
(6) The council acted as the high court of justice, the king sitting as 
supreme judge. (7) The council, with the king, discussed all questions 
of importance — such as the levying of taxes, the making of treaties; 
smaller matters were left to the towns, hundreds, and shires to settle 
for themselves. After the consolidation of the different English king- 
doms into one, the Witenagemot expanded into the National Council. > 
In it we see " the true beginning of the Parliament of England," 

4. How England became a United Kingdom ; Influence of the 
Church and of the Danish Invasions. — For a number of centuries 
Britain consisted of a number of little rival kingdoms, almost con- 
stantly at war with each other. Meanwhile missionaries from Rome 
had introduced Christianity (597). Through the influence of Theodore 
of Tarsus, archbishop of Canterbury (668), the clergy of the different 
hostile kingdoms met in general Church councils.3/ This religious unity 
of action prepared the way for political unity. The Catholic Church — 
the only Christian Church then existing — made men feel that their 
highest interests were one*; it " created the nation. 1 ' 

This was the first cause of the union of the kingdoms. The second 
was the invasions of the Danes. These fierce marauders forced the 
people south of the Thames to join in common defence, under the leader- 
ship of Alfred, king of the West Saxons. By the treaty of Wedmore 
(878), the Danes'were compelled to give up Southwestern England, but 
they retained the whole of the Northeast. About ■ the middle of the 
tenth, century, one of Alfred's grandsons conquered the Danes, and 
took the title of " King of all England." 3 Later, the Danes, reinforced 
by fresh invasions of their countrymen, made themselves masters -of the 
land ; yet Canute, the most powerful of these Danish kings, ruled 
according to. English methods. At length the great body of. the people 



J The Witenagemot, says Stubbs {Select -Charters) , represented the people, although it 
was not ♦collection of representatives. 

2 This movement began several years earlier, — see page 38, — but Theodore of Tarsus was 
its first great organizer. 

3 Some authorities consider Edgar (959) as the first " King of all England." In 828 
Egbert, King of the West Saxons, once, though but once, took the lesser title of " King of 
the English." See page 39. 



J. 



CONSTITUTIONAL SUMMARY. 393 

united in choosing Edward the Confessor king (1042-1066). He was 
English by birth, but Norman by education. Under him the unity of 
the English kingdom was, in name at least, fully restored. 

5. Beginning of the Feudal System ; its Results. — Meantime 
a great change had taken place in England with respect to holding land. 
We shall see clearly to what that change was tending if we look at the 
condition of France. There a system of government and of land tenure 
existed known as the Feudal System. Under it the king was regarded 
as the owner of the entire realm. He granted, with his royal protec- 
tion, the use of portions of the land to his chief men or nobles, with 
the privilege of building castles and of establishing private courts of 
justice on these estates. Such grants were made on two conditions : 
(1) that the tenants should take part in the king's council; (2) that 
they should do military service in the king's behalf, and furnish besides 
a certain number of fully armed horsemen in proportion to the amount 
of land they had received. So long as they fulfilled these conditions 
— made under oath — they could retain their estates, and hand them 
down to their children ; but if they failed to keep their oath, they for- 
feited the land to the king. 

These great military barons or lords let out parts of their immense 
manors, 1 or estates, on similar conditions — namely, (1) that their 
vassals or tenants should pay rent to them by doing military or other 
service ; and (2) that they should agree that all questions concerning their 
rights and duties should be tried in the lord's private court. 2 On the 
other hand, the lord of the manor pledged himself to protect his vassals. 

On every manor there were usually three classes of these tenants : 
(1) those who discharged their rent by doing military duty; (2) those 
who paid by a certain fixed amount of labor — or, if they preferred, 
in produce or in money; (3) the villeins, or common laborers, who 
were bound to remain on the estate and work for the lord, and whose 
condition, although they were not wholly destitute of legal rights, was 
practically not very much above that of slaves. 

But there was another way by which men might enter the Feudal 
System ; for while it was growing up there, were many small free land- 
holders, who owned their farms, and owed no man any service what- 
ever. In. those times of constant civil war such men would be in almost 
daily peril of losing, not only their property, but their lives. - To escape 
this danger, they would hasten to " commend " themselves to some 
powerful neighboring lord. To do this, they pledged' themselves to 
become "his men," surrendered their farms to him, and received them 

1 Manor: — see Plan of a Manor on page 80 — (Old French memoir, a mansion), the estate 
of a feudal lord. Every manor had two courts. The most important of these was the " court 
baron." It was composed of all the free tenants of the manor, with the lord (or his represent- 
ative) presiding. It dealt with civil cases only. The second court was the "court cus- 
tomary" which dealt with cases connected with villeinage. The manors held by the greater 
barons had a third court, the " court leet" which dealt with criminal cases, and could inflict 
the death penalty. In all cases the decisions of the manorial courts would be pretty sure to 
be in the lord's favor. In England, however, these courts never acquired the degree of power 
which they did on the continent. 

2 See Note above, on the Manor. 



394 LEADING FACTS OF ENGLISH HISTORY. 

again as feudal vassals. That is, the lord bound himself to protect 
them against their enemies, and they bound themselves to do " suit and 
service " 1 like the other tenants of the manor ; for " suit and service " 
on the one side, and "protection" on the other, made up the threefold 
foundation of the Feudal System. 

Thus in time all classes of society became bound together. At the 
top stood the king, who was no man's tenant, but, in name at least, I 
every man's master ; at the bottom crouched the villein, who was no 
man's master, but was, in fact, the most servile and helpless of tenants. 7 ' 

Such was the condition of things in France. In England, however, 
this system of land tenure was never completely established until after 
the Norman Conquest (1066). For in England the tie which bound 
men to the king and to each other was originally one of pure choice, 
and had nothing directly to do with land. Gradually, however, this 
changed ; and by the time of Edward the Confessor land in England 
had come to be held on conditions so closely resembling those of France 
that one step more — and that a very short one — would have made 
England a kingdom exhibiting all the most dangerous features of 
French feudalism. 

For, notwithstanding certain advantages, 2 feudalism had this great 
evil : that the chief nobles often became in time more powerful than 
the king. This danger now menaced England. For convenience 
Canute the Dane had divided the realm into four earldoms. The 
holders of these vast estates had grown so mighty that they scorned 
royal authority. Edward the Confessor did not dare resist them. The 
ambition of each earl was to get the supreme mastery. This threatened 
to bring on civil war, and to split the kingdom into fragments. For- 
tunately for the welfare of the nation, William of Normandy, by his 
invasion and conquest of England (1066), put an effectual stop to the 
selfish schemes of these four rival nobles. 

6. "William the Conqueror and his Work. — After William's vic- 
tory at Hastings and march on London, the National Council chose him 
sovereign, — they would not have dared to refuse, — and he was crowned 
by the archbishop of York in Westminster Abbey. This coronation 
made him the legal successor of the line of English kings. In form, 
therefore, there was no break in the order of government ; for though 
William had forced himself upon the throne, he had done so according 
to law and custom, and not directly by the sword. 

Great changes followed the conquest, but they were not violent. 
The king abolished the four great earldoms, and restored national 
unity. He gradually dispossessed the chief English landholders of 
their lands, and bestowed them, under strict feudal laws, on his Norman 
followers. He likewise gave all the highest positions in the Church to 
Norman bishops and abbots. The National Council now changed its 
character. It became simply a body of Norman barons, who were 

1 That is, they pledged themselves to do suit in the lord's private court, and to do service 
in his army. 

2 On the Advantages of Feudalism, see page 51. 



CONSTITUTIONAL SUMMARY. 395 

bound by feudal custom to meet with the king. But they did not re- 
strain his authority ; for William would brook no interference with his 
will from any one, not even from the Pope himself. 

But though the Conqueror had a tyrant's power, he rarely used it like 
a tyrant. We have seen 1 that the great excellence of the early Eng- 
lish government lay in the fact that the towns, hundreds, and shires 
were self-governing in all local matters ; the drawback to this system 
was its lack of unity and of a strong central power that could make 
itself respected and obeyed. William supplied this power, — without 
which there could be no true national strength, — yet at the same time 
he was careful to encourage the local system of self-government. He 
gave London a liberal charter to protect its rights and liberties. He 
began the organization of a royal court of justice ; he checked the 
rapacious Norman barons in their efforts to get control of the people's 
courts. 

Furthermore, side by side with the feudal cavalry army, he maintained 
the old English county militia of foot-soldiers, in which every freeman 
was bound to serve. He used this militia, when necessary, to prevent 
the barons from getting the upperhand, and so destroying those liber- 
ties which were protected by the crown as its own best safeguard 
against the plots of the nobles. 

Next, William had a census, survey, and valuation made of all the 
estates in the kingdom outside London which were worth examination. 
The result of this great work was recorded in Domesday Book. By 
means of that book — still preserved — the king knew what no English 
ruler had known before him ; that was, the property-holding population 
and resources of the kingdom. Thus a solid foundation was laid on 
which to establish the feudal revenue and the military power of the 
crown. 

Finally, just before his death, the Conqueror completed the organiza- 
tion of his government. Hitherto the vassals of the great barons had 
been bound to them alone. They were sworn to fight for their masters, 
even if those masters rose in open rebellion against the sovereign. 
William changed all that. At a meeting held at Salisbury (1086) he 
compelled every landholder in England, from the greatest to the smallest, 
— 60,000, it is said, — to swear to be " faithful to him against all others." 
By that oath he " broke the neck of the Feudal System " as a form of 
gove?'nment, though he retained and developed the principle of feudal 
land tenure. Thus at one stroke he made the crown the supreme 
power in England ; had he not done so, the nation would soon have 
been a prey to civil war. 

7. "William's Norman Successors. — William Rufus has a bad 
name in history, and he fully deserves it. But he had this merit : he 
held the Norman barons in check with a stiff hand, and so, in one way, 
gave the country comparative peace. 

His successor, Henry I., granted (1100) a charter of liberties 2 to his 

1 See Paragraphs 2, 3, of this Summary. 

2 For Henry I.'s charter, see Note 1, on page 73, 



396 LEADING FACTS OF ENGLISH HISTORY. 

people, by which he recognized the sacredness of the old English laws 
for the protection of life and property. Somewhat more than a century 
later this document became, as we shall see, the basis of the most 
celebrated charter known in English history. Henry attempted im- 
portant reforms in the administration of the laws, and laid the founda- 
tion of that system which his grandson, Henry II., was to develop and 
establish. By these measures he gained the title of the " Lion of 
Justice," who "made peace for both man and beast." Furthermore, 
in an important controversy with the Pope respecting the appointment 
of bishops, 1 Henry obtained the right (1 107) to require that both bishops 
and abbots, after taking possession of their Church estates, should be 
obliged like the barons to furnish troops for the defence of the kingdom. 

But in the next reign — that of Stephen — the barons got the upper 
hand, and the king was powerless to control them. They built castles 
without royal license, and from these private fortresses they sallied forth 
to ravage, rob, and murder in all directions. Had that period of terror 
continued much longer, England would have been torn to pieces by a 
multitude of greedy tyrants. 

8. Reforms of Henry II.; Scutage ; Assize of Clarendon; 
Juries; Institutions of Clarendon. — With Henry II. the true reign 
of law begins. To carry out the reforms begun by his grandfather, 
Henry I., the king fought both barons and clergy. Over the first he 
won a complete and final victory ; over the second he gained a partial 
one. 

Henry began his work by pulling down the unlicensed castles built 
by the " robber barons." But, according to feudal usage, the king was 
dependent on these very barons for his cavalry — his chief armed force. 
He resolved to make himself independent of their reluctant aid. To 
do this he offered to release them from military service, providing they 
would pay a tax, called scutage, or shield-money (1159). 2 The barons 
gladly accepted the offer. With the money Henry was able to hire 
" mercenaries," or foreign troops, to fight for him abroad, and, if need 
be, in England as well. Thus he struck a great blow at the power of 
the barons, since they, through disuse of arms, grew weaker, while the 
king grew steadily stronger. To complete the work, Henry, many 
years later (1181), reorganized the old English national militia, 3 and 
made it thoroughly effective for the defence of the royal authority. 
For just a hundred years (1074-1174) the barons had been trying to 
overthrow the government; under Henry II. the long struggle came to^ 
an end, and the royal power triumphed. 

But in getting the military control of the kingdom, Henry had won 
only half of the victory he was seeking ; to complete his supremacy 

1 See page 73, Paragraph 186. 

2 Scutage (see page 89) : the demand for scutage seems to show that the feudal tenure 
was now fully organized, and that the whole realm was by this time divided into knights 
fees, — that is, into portions of land yielding £10 annually, — each of which was obliged to 
furnish one fully armed, well-mounted knight to serve the King (if called on) for forty days 
annually. 

3 National militia: see page 50, Paragraph 121. 



CONSTITUTIONAL SUMMARY. 397 

over the powerful nobles, the king must obtain control of the adminis- 
tration of justice. 

In order to do this more effectually, Henry issued the Assize of Clar- 
endon (1166). It was the first true national code of law ever put forth 
v by an English king, since previous codes had been little more than 
summaries of old " customs." The realm had already been divided 
into six circuits, having three judges for each circuit. The Assize of 
Clarendon gave these judges power not only to enter and preside over 
every county court, but also over every court held by a baron on his 
manor. This put a pretty decisive check to the hitherto uncontrolled 
baronial system of justice — or injustice — with its private dungeons 
and its private gibbets. It brought everything under the eye of the 
king's judges, so that those who wished to appeal to them could now 
do so without the expense, trouble, and danger of a journey to the 
royal palace. 

Again, it had been the practice among the Norman barons to settle 
disputes about land by the barbarous method of trial by battle ; J Henry 
gave tenants the right to have the case decided by a body of twelve 
knights acquainted with the facts. 

In criminal cases a great change was likewise effected. Henceforth 
twelve men from each hundred, with four from each township, — sixteen 
at least, — acting as a grand jury, were to present all suspected criminals 
to the circuit judges. 2 The judges sent them to the ordeal ; 3 if they 
failed to pass it, they were then punished by law as convicted felons ; 
if they did pass it, they were banished from the kingdom as persons of 
evil repute. After the abolition of the ordeal (121 5), a petty jury of 
witnesses was allowed to testify in favor of the accused, and clear them 
if they could from the charges brought by the grand jury. If their tes- 
timony was not decisive, more witnesses were added until twelve were 
obtained who could unanimously decide one way or the other. In the 
course of time 4 this smaller body became judges of the evidence for or 
against the accused, and thus the modern system of trial by jury was 
established. 

These reforms had three important results: (1) they greatly dimin- 
ished the power of the barons by taking the administration of justice, 
in large measure, out of their hands ; (2) they established a more uni- 
form system of law ; (3) they brought large sums of money, in the way 
of court-fees and fines, into the king's treasury, and so made him 
stronger than ever. 

But meanwhile Henry was carrying on a still sharper battle in his 
attempt to bring the Church courts — which William I. had separated 
from the ordinary courts — under control of the same system of justice. 
In these Church courts any person claiming to belong to the clergy had 
a right to be tried. Such courts had no power to inflict death, even 

1 See page 79, Paragraph 198. 

2 See the Assize of Clarendon (1166) in Stubbs's Select Charters. 

3 See page 52, Paragraph 127. 

4 Certainly by 1450. But as late as the reign of George I. juries were accustomed to bring 
in verdicts determined partly by their own personal knowledge of the facts. See Taswell- 
Langmead (revised edJ, page 179. 



398 LEADING FACTS OF ENGLISH -HISTORY. 

for murder. In Stephen's reign many notorious criminals had managed 
to get themselves enrolled among the clergy, and had thus escaped the 
hanging they deserved. Henry was determined to have all men — in 
the circle of clergy or out of it — stand equal before the law. Instead 
of two kinds of justice, he would have but one ; this would not only 
secure a still higher uniformity of law, but it would sweep into the king's 
treasury many fat fees and fines which the Church courts were then 
getting for themselves. 

By the laws entitled the Constitutions of Clarendon (1164), the 
common courts were empowered to decide whether a man claiming to 
belong to the clergy should be tried by the Church courts or not. If 
they granted him the privilege of a Church court trial, they kept a sharp 
watch on the progress of the case; if the accused was convicted, he 
must then be handed over to the judges of the ordinary courts, and 
they took especial pains to convince him of the Bible truth, that " the 
way of the transgressor is hard." For a time the Constitutions were 
rigidly enforced, but in the end Henry was forced to renounce them. 
Later, however, the principle he had endeavored to set up was fully 
established. 1 

The greatest result springing from Henry's efforts was the training 
of the people in public affairs, and the definitive establishment of that 
system of Common Law which regards the people as the supreme source 
of both law and government, and which is directly and vitally connected 
with the principle of representation and of trial by jury. 2 

9. Rise of Free Towns. — While these important changes were 
taking place, the towns were growing in population and wealth. But 
as these towns occupied land belonging either directly to the king or 
to some baron, they were subject to the authority of one or the other, 
and so possessed no real freedom. In the reign of Richard I. many 
towns purchased certain rights of self-government from the king. 
This power of controlling their own affairs greatly increased their pros- 
perity, and in time, as we shall see, secured them a voice in the 
management of the affairs of the nation. 

10. John's Loss of Normandy; Magna Carta. — Up to John's 
reign many barons continued to hold large estates in Normandy, in 
addition to those they had acquired in England ; hence their interests 
were divided between the two countries. Through war John lost his 
French possessions. Henceforth the barons shut out from Normandy 
came to look upon England as their true home. From Henry II. 's 
reign the Normans and the English had been gradually mingling ; from 
this time they became practically one people. John's tyranny and 
cruelty brought their union into sharp, decisive action. The result 
of his greed for money, and his defiance of all law, was a tremendous 
insurrection. Before this time the people had always taken the side of 

1 Edward I. limited the jurisdiction of the Church courts to purely spiritual cases, such as 
heresy and the like; but the work which he, following the example of Henry II., had under- 
taken, was not fully accomplished until the fifteenth century. 

2 See, on this point, Green's Henry II., in the " English Statesmen " Series. 



CONSTITUTIONAL SUMMARY. 399 

*he king against the barons ; now, with equal reason, they turned about 
and rose with the barons against the king. 

Under the guidance of Archbishop Langton, barons, clergy, and 
people demanded reform. The archbishop brought out the half- 
forgotten charter of Henry I. This now furnished a model for Magna 
Carta, or the " Great Charter of the Liberties of England." 1 

It contained nothing that was new in principle. It was simply a 
clearer, fuller, stronger statement of those "rights of Englishmen 
which were already old." 

John, though wild with rage, did not dare refuse to affix his royal 
seal to the Great Charter of 121 5. By doing so he solemnly guaran- 
teed : (1) the rights of the Church ; (2) those of the barons ; (3) those 
of all freemen; (4) those of the villeins, or farm-laborers. The value 
of this charter to the people at large is shown by the fact that nearly 
one-third of its sixty-three articles were inserted in their behalf. Of 
these articles, the most important was that which declared that no man 
should be deprived of liberty or property, or injured in body or estate, 
save by the judgment of his equals or by the law of the land. 

In regard to taxation, the Charter provided that, except the customary 
feudal "aids," 2 none should be levied unless by the consent of the 
National Council. Finally, the Charter expressly provided that twenty- 
five barons — one of whom was mayor of London — should be appointed 
to compel the king to carry out his agreement. 

11. Henry III. and the Great Charter; the Forest Charter; 
Provisions of Oxford ; Rise of the House of Commons ; Impor- 
tant Land Laws. — Under Henry III. the Great Charter was reissued. 
But the important articles which forbade the king to levy taxes except 
by consent of the National Council, together with some others restrict- 
ing his power to increase his revenue, were dropped, and never again 
restored. 3 

On the other hand, Henry was obliged to issue a Forest Charter, 
based on certain articles of Magna Carta, which declared that no man 
should lose life or limb for hunting in the royal forests. 

Though the Great Charter was now shorn of some of its safeguards 
to liberty, yet it was still so highly prized that its confirmation was pur- 
chased at a high price from successive sovereigns. Down to the second 
year of Henry VI. 's reign (1423), we find that it had been confirmed 
no less than thirty-seven times. 

Notwithstanding his solemn oath, 4 the vain and worthless Henry III. 
deliberately violated the provisions of the Charter, in order to raise 
money to waste in his foolish foreign wars or on his court circle of 
French favorites. 

Finally (1258), a body of armed barons, led by Simon de Montfort, 
earl of Leicester, forced the king to summon a Parliament at Oxford. 

1 Magna Carta: see Constitutional Documents, page 443. 

2 For the three customary Feudal Aids, see page 80, Paragraph 200. 

3 See Stubbs's Select Charters (Edward I.), page 484; but compare Note 1 on page 443. 
* See page 112, Paragraph 262. 



400 LEADING FACTS OF ENGLISH HISTORY. 

There a scheme of reform, called the Provisions of Oxford, was adopted. 
By these Provisions, which Henry swore to observe, the government 
was practically taken out of the king's hands, — at least as far as he 
had power to do mischief, — and entrusted to certain councils or com- 
mittees of state. 

A few years later, Henry refused to abide by the Provisions of Oxford, 
and civil war broke out. De Montfort, earl of Leicester, gained a 
decisive victory at Lewes, and captured the king. The earl then sum- 
moned a National Council, made up of those who favored his policy of 
reform. This was the famous Parliament of 1265. To it De Montfort 
summoned: (1) a small number of barons ; (2) a large number of the 
higher clergy ; (3) two knights, or country gentlemen, from each shire ; 
(4) two burghers, or citizens, from every town. 

The knights of the shire had been summoned to Parliament before ; 1 
but this was the first time that the towns had been invited to send 
representatives. By that act the earl set the example of giving the 
people at large a fuller share in the government than they had yet had. 
To De Montfort, therefore, justly belongs the glory of being "the 
founder of the House of Commons " ; though owing, perhaps, to his 
death shortly afterward at the battle of Evesham (1265), the regular 
and continuous representation of the towns did not begin until thirty 
years later. 

Meanwhile (1 279-1 290), three land laws of great importance were 
enacted. The first limited the acquisition of landed property by the 
Church ; 2 the second encouraged the transmission of land by will to 
the eldest son, thus keeping estates together instead of breaking them 
up among several heirs ; 3 the third made purchasers of estates the 
direct feudal tenants of the king. 4 The object of these three laws was 
to prevent landholders from evading their feudal obligations ; hence 
they decidedly strengthened the royal power. 5 

12. Edward I.'s "Model Parliament"; Confirmation of the 
Charters. — In 1295, Edward I., one of the ablest men that ever sat 
on the English throne, adopted De Montfort's scheme of representation. 
The king was greatly pressed for money, and his object was to get the 
help of the towns, and thus secure a system of taxation which should 
include all classes. With the significant words, " that which toucheth 
all should be approved by all," he summoned to Westminster the first 
really complete, or "Model Parliament," 6 consisting of King, Lords 

1 They were first summoned by John, in 1213. 

2 Statute of Mortmain (1279) : see page 120, Paragraph 278. It was especially directed 
against the acquisition of land by monasteries. 

3 Statute De Donis Conditionalibus (or of Westminster II.) (1285): see page 119, Para- 
graph 277. 

* Statute of Quia Emptores (1290) : see page 119, Paragraph 277. 

8 During the same period the Statute of Winchester (1285) reorganized the national militia 
and the police system. See page 119, Paragraph 276. 

6 De Montfort's Parliament was not wholly lawful and regular, because not voluntarily 
summoned bythe King himself. Parliament must be summoned by the sovereign, opened 
by the sovereign (in person or by commission) ; all laws require the sovereign's signature 
to complete them; and finally, Parliament can be suspended or dissolved by the sovereign 
only. 



CONSTITUTIONAL SUMMARY. 401 

(temporal and spiritual), and Commons. 1 The form Parliament then 
received it has kept substantially ever since. We shall see how from 
this time the Commons gradually grew in influence, — though with 
periods of relapse, — until at length they have become the controlling 
power in legislation. 

Ten years after the meeting of the " Model Parliament, 1 ' in order to 
get money to carry on a war with France, Edward levied a tax on the 
barons, and seized a large quantity of wool belonging to the merchants. 
So determined was the resistance to these acts that civil war was 
threatened. In order to avert it, the king was obliged to summon a 
Parliament (1297), and to sign a confirmation of both the Great Charter 
and the Forest Charter. He furthermore bound himself in the most 
solemn manner not to tax his subjects or seize their goods without their 
consent. Henceforth Parliament alone was considered to hold control 
of the nation's purse ; and although this principle was afterward evaded, 
no king openly denied its binding force. 

13. Division of Parliament into Two Houses ; Growth of 
the Power of the Commons ; Legislation by Statute ; Impeach- 
ment ; Power over the Purse. — In Edward's reign a great change 
occurred in Parliament. The knights of the shire (about 1343) 2 joined 
the representatives from the towns, and began to sit apart from the 
Lords as a distinct House of Commons. This union gave that house a 
new character, and invested it with a power in Parliament which the 
representation from the towns alone could not have exerted. But 
though thus strengthened, the Commons did not venture to claim an 
equal part with the Lords in framing laws. Their attitude was that of 
humble petitioners. When they had voted the supplies of money which 
the king asked for, the Commons might then meekly beg for legislation. 
Even when the king and the lords assented to their petitions, the Com- 
mons often found to their disappointment that the laws which had 
been promised did not correspond to those for which they had asked. 
Henry V. pledged his word (1414) that the petitions, when accepted, 
should be made into laws without any alteration. But, as a matter of 
fact, this was not effectually done until near the close of the reign of 
Henry VI. (about 1461). 3 Then the Commons succeeded in obtaining 
the right to present proposed laws in the form of regular bills instead 
of petitions. These bills when enacted became statutes or acts of Par- 
liament, as we know them to-day. This change was a most important 
one, since it made it impossible for the king with the lords to fraudu- 
lently defeat the expressed will of the Commons after they had once 
assented to the legislation the Commons desired. 

Meanwhile the Commons gained, for the first time (1376), the right 
of impeaching such ministers of the crown as they had reason to believe 

1 The lower clergy were summoned to send representatives; but their representatives came 
very irregularly, and in the fourteenth century ceased coming altogether. From that time they 
voted their supplies for the Crown in Convocation, until 1663, when Convocation ceased to 
meet. The higher clergy — bishops and abbots — met with the House of Lords. 

2 The exact date cannot be determined. Sir T. E. May thinks it was about 1343. 
8 Exact date cannot be determined. 



402 LEADING FACTS OF ENGLISH HISTORY. 

were unfaithful to the interests of the people. This of course put an 
immense restraining power in their hands, since they could now make 
the ministers responsible, in great measure, for the king. 1 

Next (1406), the Commons insisted on having an account rendered 
of the money spent by the king ; and at times they even limited 2 their 
appropriations of money to particular purposes. Finally, in 1407, the 
Commons took the most decided step of all. They boldly demanded 
and obtained the exclusive right of making all grants of money required 
by the crown. 3 

In future the king — unless he violated the law — had to look to the 
Commons — that is, to the direct representation of the mass of the 
people — for his chief supplies. This made the will of the Commons 
more powerful than it had ever been. 

14. Religious Legislation ; Emancipation of the Villeins ; 
Disfranchisement of County Electors. — While these reforms were 
taking place, two statutes had been enacted, — that of Provisors (1350) 4 
and of Praemunire (1353 and 1393), 5 — limiting the power of the Pope 
over the English Church. On the other hand, the rise of the Lollards 
had caused a statute to be passed (1401) against heretics, and under it 
the first martyr had been burned in England. During this period the 
villeins had risen in insurrection (1381), and were gradually gaining 
their liberty. Thus a very large body of people who had been practi- 
cally excluded from political rights now began to slowly acquire them. 6 
But, on the other hand, a statute was enacted (1430) which prohibited 
all persons having an income of less than forty shillings a year — or 
what would be equal to forty pounds at the present value of money — 
from voting for knights of the shire. The consequence was that the 
poorer and humbler classes in the country were no longer directly 
represented in the House of Commons. 

15. "Wars of the Roses; Decline of Parliament; Partial 
Revival of its Power under Elizabeth. — The Civil Wars of the 
Roses (1455-1485) gave a decided check to the further development of 
parliamentary power. Many noble families were ruined by the pro- 
tracted struggle, and the new nobles created by the king were pledged 
to uphold the interests of the crown. Furthermore, numerous towns 
absorbed in their own local affairs ceased to elect members to the 
Commons. Thus, with a House of Lords on the side of royal authority, 
and with a House of Commons diminished in numbers and in influence, 
the decline of the independent attitude of Parliament was inevitable. 

1 But after 1450 the Commons ceased to exercise the right of impeachment until 1621, when 
they impeached Lord Bacon and others. 

2 The Commons dropped the right of appropriating money for specific objects, — except in 
a single instance under Henry VI., — and did not revive it until 1624. 

3 This right the Commons never surrendered. 

* Provisors: this was a law forbidding the Pope to provide any person (by anticipation) 
with a position in the English Church until the death of the incumbent. 

6 Praemunire: see Constitutional Documents, page 446. Practically, neither the law of 
Provisors nor of Praemunire was strictly enforced until Henry VIII. 's reign. 

6 Villeins appear, however, to have had the right of voting for knights of the shire until 
the statute of 1430 disfranchised them. 



CONSTITUTIONAL SUMMARY. 4O3 

The result of these changes was very marked. From the reign of 
Henry VI. to that of Elizabeth — a period of about two hundred 
years — "the voice of Parliament was rarely heard." The Tudors 
practically set up a new or "personal monarchy, 1 ' in which their will 
rose above both Parliament and the constitution; 1 and Henry VII., 
instead of asking the Commons for money, extorted it in fines enforced 
by his Court of Star Chamber, or compelled his wealthy subjects to 
grant it to him in "benevolences" 2 — those "loving contributions," 
as the king called them, " lovingly advanced." 

During this period England laid claim to a new continent, and 
Henry VIII. , repudiating the authority of the Pope, declared himself 
the " supreme head " (1535) of the English Catholic Church. In the 
next reign (Edward VI.) the Catholic worship, which had existed in 
England for nearly a thousand years, was abolished (1540), and the 
Protestant faith became henceforth — except during Mary's short reign 
— the established religion of the kingdom. It was enforced by two Acts 
of Uniformity (1549, 1552). One effect of the overthrow of Catholicism 
was to change the character of the House of Lords, by reducing the 
number of spiritual lords from a majority to a minority, as they have 
ever since remained. 3 

At the beginning of Elizabeth's reign the Second Act of Supremacy 
(1559) snut out an " Catholics from the House of Commons. 4 Protestant- 
ism was fully and finally established as the state religion, 5 embodied in 
the creed known as the Thirty-nine Articles (1563) ; and by the Third 
Act of Uniformity (1559) very severe measures were taken against 
all — whether Catholics or Puritans — who refused to conform to the 
Episcopal mode of worship. The High Commission Court was organ- 
ized (1583) to try and punish heretics — whether Catholics or Puritans. 
The great number of paupers caused by the destruction of the monas- 
teries under Henry VIII., and the gradual decay of relations of feudal 
service, caused the passage of the first Poor Law (1601), and so brought 
the government face to face with a problem which has never yet been 
satisfactorily settled; namely, what to do with habitual paupers and 
tramps. 

The closing part of Elizabeth's reign marks the revival of parlia- 
mentary power. The House of Commons now had many Puritan mem- 
bers, and they did not hesitate to assert their right to advise the queen 
on all questions of national importance. Elizabeth sharply rebuked 
them for presuming to meddle with questions of religion, or for urging 
her either to take a husband or to name a successor to the throne ; but 
even she did not venture to run directly counter to the will of the 
people. When the Commons demanded (1601) that she should put 

1 Theoretically Henry VII. 's power was restrained by certain checks (see page 181, Note 1) ; 
and even Henry VIII. generally ruled according to the letter of the law, however much he 
may have violated its spirit. It is noticeable, too, that it was under Henry VIII. (154 1 ) ^hat 
Parliament first formally claimed freedom of speech as one of its " undoubted privileges." 

2 Benevolence: see pages 169, 182. 3 See page 224, Note 2. 4 See pages 211, 212. 

6 By the Third Act of Uniformity and the establishment of the High Commission Court; 
see page 211. The First and Second Acts of Uniformity were enacted under Edward VI. 



4O4 LEADING FACTS OF ENGLISH HISTORY. 

a stop to the pernicious practice of granting trading monopolies 1 t© 
her favorites, she was obliged to yield her assent. 

16. James I.; the "Divine Right of Kings"; Struggle with 
Parliament. — James began his reign by declaring that kings rule not 
by the will of the people, but by "divine right." "God makes the 
king," said he, "and the king makes the law." For this reason he 
demanded that his proclamations should have all the force of acts of 
Parliament. Furthermore, since he appointed the judges, he could 
generally get their decisions to support him ; thus he made even the 
courts of justice serve as instruments of his will. In his arrogance he 
declared that neither Parliament nor the people had any right to dis- 
cuss matters of state, whether foreign or domestic, since he was resolved 
to reserve such questions for the royal intellect to deal with. By his 
religious intolerance he maddened both Puritans and Catholics, and 
the Pilgrim Fathers fled from England to escape his tyranny. 

But there was a limit set to his overbearing conceit. When he 
dictated to the Commons (1604) what persons should sit in that body, 
they indignantly refused to submit to any interference on his part, and 
their refusal was so emphatic that James never brought up the matter 
again. 

The king, however, was so determined to shut out members whom 
he did not like that he attempted to gain his ends by having such 
persons seized on charge of debt and thrown into prison. The Com- 
mons, on the other hand, not only insisted that their ancient privilege 
of exemption from arrest in such cases should be respected, but they 
passed a special law (1604) to clinch the privilege. 

Ten years later (1614) James, pressed for money, called a Parliament 
to get supplies. He had taken precautions to get a majority of mem- 
bers elected who would, he hoped, vote him what he wanted. But to 
his dismay the Commons declined to grant him a penny unless he would 
promise to cease imposing illegal duties on merchandise. The king 
angrily refused, and dissolved the Parliament. 2 

Finally, in order to show James that it would not be trifled with, a 
later Parliament (1621) revived the right of impeachment, which had 
not been resorted to since 1450. 3 The Commons now charged Lord 
Chancellor Bacon, judge of the High Court of Chancery, and " keeper 
of the king's conscience," with accepting bribes. Bacon held the 
highest office in the gift of the crown, and the real object of the impeach- 
ment was to strike the king through the person of his chief official and 
supporter. Bacon confessed his crime, saying: "I was the justest 
judge that was in England these fifty years, but it was the justest cen- 
sure in Parliament that was these two hundred years." 

James tried his best to save his servile favorite, but it was useless, 
and Bacon was convicted, disgraced, and punished. 

1 Monopolies: see pages 214, 215. 

2 This Parliament was nicknamed the " Addled Parliament," because it did not enact a 
single law, though it most effectually " addled" the King's plans. 

3 See Paragraph 13 of this Summary. 



CONSTITUTIONAL SUMMARY. 405 

The Commons of the same Parliament petitioned the king against 
the alleged growth of the Catholic religion in the kingdom, and espe- 
cially against the proposed marriage of the Prince of Wales to a Spanish 
Catholic princess. James ordered the Commons to let mysteries of 
state alone. They claimed liberty of speech. The king asserted that 
they had no liberties except such as the royal power saw fit to grant. 
Then the Commons drew up their famous Protest, in which they 
declared that their liberties were not derived from the king, but were 
" the ancient and undoubted birthright and inheritance of the people of 
England." In his rage James ordered the journal of the Commons 
to be brought to him, tore out the Protest with his own hand, and sent 
five of the members of the House to prison. This rash act made the 
Commons more determined than ever not to yield to arbitrary power. 
James died three years later, leaving his unfortunate son Charles to 
settle the angry controversy he had raised. 

17. Charles I.; Forced Loans ; the Petition of Right. — Charles I. 
came to the throne full of his father's lofty ideas of the Divine Right of 
Kings to govern as they pleased. In private life he was conscientious, 
but in his public policy he was a man " of dark and crooked ways." 

He had married a French Catholic princess, and the Puritans, who 
were now very strong in the House of Commons, believed that the king 
secretly sympathized with the queen's religion. This was not the case ; 
for Charles, after his peculiar fashion, was a sincere Protestant, though 
he favored the introduction into the English Church of some of the 
ceremonies peculiar to Catholic worship. 

The Commons showed their distrust of the king by voting him the 
tax of tonnage and poundage 1 for a single year only, instead of for life, 
as had been their custom. The Lords refused to assent to such a limited 
grant, 2 and Charles deliberately collected the tax without the authority 
of Parliament. Failing, however, to get a sufficient supply in that way, 
the king forced men of property to grant him " benevolences," and to 
loan him large sums of money with no hope of its return. Those who 
dared to refuse were thrown into prison on some pretended charge, or 
had squads of brutal soldiers quartered in their houses. 

When even these measures failed to supply his wants, Charles was 
forced to summon a Parliament, and ask for help. Instead of granting 
it, the Commons drew up the Petition of Right 3 of 1628, as an indig- 
nant remonstrance, and as a safeguard against further acts of tyranny. 
This petition has been called " the Second Great Charter of the Liberties 
of England." It declared : 1, That no one should be compelled to pay 
any tax or to supply the king with money, except by order of act of 
Parliament; 2, that neither soldiers nor sailors should be quartered in 
private houses ; 4 3, that no one should be imprisoned or punished 
contrary to law. Charles was forced by his need of money to assent to 

1 Tonnage and poundage: certain duties levied on wine and merchandise. 

2 See Taswell-Langmead (revised ed.), page 557, Note. 

8 Petition of Right: see Constitutional Documents, page 417. 

4 The King was also deprived of the power to press citizens into the army and navy. 



406 LEADING FACTS OF ENGLISH HISTORY. 

this petition, which thus became a most important part of the English 
constitution. But the king did not keep his word. When Parliament 
next met (1629), it refused to grant money unless Charles would renew 
his pledge not to violate the law. The king made some concessions, 
but finally resolved to adjourn Parliament. Several members of the 
Commons held the Speaker in the chair, by force — thus preventing the 
adjournment of the House — until resolutions offered by Sir John Eliot 
were passed. These resolutions were aimed directly at the king. They 
declared: 1. That he is a traitor who attempts any change in the 
established religion of the kingdom ; 1 2, who levies any tax not voted 
by Parliament ; 3, or who voluntarily pays such a tax. Parliament then 
adjourned. 

18. "Thorough"; Ship-Money; the Short Parliament. — The 
king swore that "the vipers" who opposed him should have their 
reward. Eliot was thrown into prison, and kept there till he died. 
Charles made up his mind that, with the help of Archbishop Laud in 
Church matters, and of Lord Strafford in affairs of state, he would rule 
without Parliaments. Strafford urged the king to adopt the policy of 
" Thorough " ; 2 in other words, to follow the bent of his own will 
without consulting the will of the nation. This, of course, practically 
meant the overthrow of parliamentary and constitutional government. 
Charles heartily approved of this plan for setting up what he called 
a "beneficent despotism" based on "Divine Right." 

The king now resorted to various illegal means to obtain supplies. 
The last device he hit upon was that of raising ship-money. To do 
this, he levied a tax on all the counties of England, — inland as well as 
seaboard, — on the pretext that he purposed bunding a navy for the 
defence of the kingdom. John Hampden refused to pay the tax, but 
Charles's servile judges decided against him, when the case was brought 
into court. 

Charles ruled without a Parliament for eleven years. He might, per- 
haps, have gone on in this way for as many more, had he not provoked 
the Scots to rebel by attempting to force a modified form of the English 
Prayer-Book on the Church of that country. The necessities of the 
war with the Scots compelled the king to call a Parliament. It declined 
to grant the king money to carry on the war unless he would give some 
satisfactory guarantee of governing according to the will of the people. 
Charles refused to do this, and after a three weeks' session he dissolved 
what was known as the " Short Parliament." 

19. The "Long Parliament"; the Civil War. — But the war 
gave Charles no choice, and before the year was out he was obliged to 
call the famous "Long Parliament" of 1640. 3 That body met, with 

1 The Puritans generally believed that the King wished to restore the Catholic religion as 
the^ established Church of England, but in this idea they were mistaken. 

2 "Thorough": Strafford wrote to Laud, " You may govern as you please. ... I am 
confident that the King is able to carry any just and honorable action thorough [i.e. through 
or against] all imaginable opposition." Both Strafford and Laud used this word " thorough," 
in this s-ense, to designate their tyrannical policy. 

3 The Long Parliament: it sat from 1640 to 1653, and was not finally dissolved until 1660. 



CONSTITUTIONAL SUMMARY. 407 

the firm determination to restore the liberties of Englishmen or to 
perish in the attempt. 1. It impeached Strafford and Laud, and sent 
them to the scaffold as traitors. 1 2. It swept away those instruments 
of royal oppression, the Court of Star Chamber and the High Commis- 
sion Court. 2 3. It expelled the bishops from the House of Lords. 
4. It passed the Triennial Bill, compelling the king to summon a Par- 
liament at least once in three years. 3 5. It also passed a law declaring 
that the king could not suspend or dissolve Parliament without its con- 
sent. 6. Last of all, the Commons drew up the Grand Remonstrance, 
enunciating at great length the grievances of the last sixteen years, and 
vehemently appealing to the people to support them in their attempts 
at reform. The Remonstrance was printed and distributed throughout 
England. 4 

About a month later (1642), the king, at the head of an armed force, 
undertook to seize Hampden, Pym, and three other of the most active 
members of the Commons on a charge of treason. The attempt failed. 
Soon afterward the Commons passed the Militia Bill, and thus took 
the command of the national militia and of the chief fortresses of the 
realm, " to hold," as they said, " for king and Parliament." The act was 
unconstitutional ; but, after the attempted seizure of the five members, 
the Commons felt certain that if they left the command of the militia 
in the king's hands, they would simply sign their own death-warrant. 

In resentment at this action, Charles now (1642) began the civil war. 
It resulted in the execution of the king, and in the temporary over- 
throw of the monarchy, the House of Lords, and the established Epis- 
copal Church. In place of the monarchy, the party in power set up 
a short-lived Puritan Republic. This was followed by the Protectorate 
of Oliver Cromwell and that of his son Richard. 

20. Charles II. ; Abolition of Feudal Tenure ; Establishment 
of a Standing Army. — In 1660 the people, weary of the Protectorate 
form of government, welcomed the return of Charles II. His coming 
marks the restoration of the monarchy, of the House of Lords, and of 
the National Episcopal Church. 

A great change was now effected in the source of the king's revenue. 
Hitherto it had sprung largely from feudal dues. These had long been 
difficult to collect, because the feudal system had practically died out. 
The feudal land tenure with its dues was now abolished, — a reform, 
says Blackstone, greater even than that of Magna Carta, — and in their 
place a tax was levied for a fixed sum. This tax should in justice 
have fallen on the landowners, who profited by the change ; but they 
managed to evade it, in great measure, and by getting it levied on beer 

1 Charles assured Strafford that Parliament should not touch " a hair of his head"; hut to 
save himself the King signed the Bill of Attainder (see p. 446) , which sent his ablest and most 
faithful servant to the block. Well might Strafford exclaim, " Put not your trust in princes. 

2 On the Court of Star Chamber and the High Commission Court, see pages 183, 211 
(Note 1), and 224. 

3 The Triennial Act was repealed in 1664, and re-enacted in 1694. In 1716 the Septennial 
Act increased the limit of three years to seven. This act is still in force # 

4 The press soon became, for the first time, a most active agent of political agitation, both 
for and against the King. See page 244, Paragraph 495. 



4g8 leading facts of English history. 

and some other liquors, they forced the working classes to shoulder the 
chief part of the burden, which they still continue to carry. 

Parliament now restored the command of the militia to the king ; * 
and, for the first time in English history, it also gave him the command 
of a standing army of 5000 men — thus, in one way, making him more 
powerful than ever before. 

On the other hand, Parliament revived the practice of limiting its 
appropriations of money to specific purposes. 2 It furthermore began 
to require an exact account of how the king spent the money — a most 
embarrassing question for Charles to answer. Again, Parliament did 
not hesitate to impeach and remove the king's ministers whenever they 
forfeited the confidence of that body. 3 

The religious legislation of this period marks the strong reaction 
from Puritanism which had set in. 1. The Corporation Act (1661) 
excluded all persons who did not renounce the Puritan Covenant, and 
partake of the Sacrament according to the Church of England, from 
holding municipal or other corporate offices. 2. The Fourth Act of 
Uniformity 4 required all clergymen to accept the Book of Common 
Prayer of (1662) the Church of England. The result of this law was 
that no less than 2000 Puritan ministers were driven from their pulpits 
in a single day. 3. A third act of Parliament followed 5 which forbade the 
preaching or hearing of Puritan doctrines, under severe penalties. 4. A 
later act 6 prohibited nonconforming clergymen from teaching, or from 
coming within five miles of any corporate town (except when travelling). 

21. Origin of Cabinet Government ; the Secret Treaty of 
Dover ; the Test Act ; the Habeas Corpus Act. — Charles made 
a great and most important change with respect to the Privy Council. 
Instead of consulting the entire council on matters of state, he estab- 
lished the custom of inviting a few only to meet with him in his cabinet 
or private room. This limited body of confidential advisers was called 
the Cabal or secret council. 

Charles's great ambition was to increase his standing army, to rule 
independently of Parliament, and to get an abundance of money to 
spend on his extravagant pleasures and vices. 

In order to accomplish these three ends he made a secret and shame- 
ful treaty with Louis XIV. of France (1670). Louis wished to crush 
the Dutch Protestant Republic of Holland, to get possession of Spain, 
and to secure, if possible, the ascendency of Catholicism in England as 
well as throughout Europe. Charles, who was destitute of any religious 
principle, — or, in fact, of any sense of honor, — agreed to publicly declare 
himself a Catholic, to favor the propagation of that faith in England, 
and to make war on Holland in return for very liberal grants of money, 
and for the loan of 6000 French troops by Louis, to help him put down 

1 See Militia Bill, Paragraph 19 of this Summary. 2 See Paragraph 13 of this Summary. 

8 See Paragraph 13 of this Summary (Impeachment). 

4 The first and second Acts of Uniformity date from Edward VI. (1549, 155 2 ) > the third 
from Elizabeth (1559). 5 The Conventicle Act (1664). 

6 The Five Mile Act (1665). It excepted those clergymen who took the oath of non- 
resistance to the King, and who swore not to attempt to alter the constitution of Church or 
State. See Hallam. 



CONSTITUTIONAL SUMMARY. 409 

any opposition in England. Two members of the Cabal were acquainted 
with the terms of this secret treaty of Dover. 1 

Charles did not dare to openly avow himself a convert — or pretended 
convert — to the Catholic religion ; but he issued a Declaration of 
Indulgence (1672) suspending the harsh and unjust statute against the 
English Catholics. 

Parliament took the alarm and passed the Test Act (1673), by which 
all Catholics were shut out from holding any government office or posi- 
tion. This act broke up the Cabal, by compelling a Catholic nobleman, 
who was one of its leading members, to resign. Later, Parliament further 
showed its power by compelling the king to sign the Act of Habeas 
Corpus (1679), which put an end to his arbitrarily throwing men into 
prison, and keeping them there, in order to stop their free discussion of 
his plots against the constitution. 2 

But though the Cabal had been broken up, the principle of a limited 
private council survived, and, after the Revolution of 1688, it was 
revived, and took the name of the Cabinet. Under the leadership of 
the prime minister, who is its head, the Cabinet has become responsible 
for the policy of the sovereign. 3 Should Parliament decidedly oppose 
that policy, the prime minister, with his cabinet, either resigns, and a 
new cabinet is chosen, or the minister appeals to the people for support, 
and a new parliamentary election is held, by which the nation decides 
the question. This method renders the old, and never desirable, remedy 
of the impeachment of the ministers of the sovereign no longer necessary. 
The prime minister — who answers for the acts of the sovereign and for 
his policy — is more directly responsible to the people than is the 
President of the United States. 

22. The Pretended "Popish Plot" ; Rise of the Whigs and the 
Tories; Revocation of Town Charters. — The pretended "Popish 
Plot" (1678) to kill the king, in order to place his brother James — a 
Catholic convert — on the throne, caused the rise of a strong movement 
(1680) to exclude James from the right of succession. The Exclusion 
Bill failed, but henceforward two prominent political parties appear in 
Parliament, — one, that of the Whigs or Liberals, bent on extending 
the power of the people ; the other, that of the Tories or Conservatives, 
resolved to maintain the power of the crown. 

Charles, of course, did all in his power to encourage the latter party. 
In order to strengthen their numbers in the Commons, he found pre- 
texts for revoking the charters of many Whig towns. He then issued 
new charters to these towns, giving the power of election to the Tories. 4 
While engaged in this congenial work the king died, and his brother 
James came to the throne. 

1 Charles signed a second secret treaty of Dover in 1678. 

2 See Habeas Corpus Act in Constitutional Documents, p. 446. 

5 The real efficiency of the Cabinet system of government was not fully developed until 
after the Reform Act of 1832 had widely extended the right of suffrage, and thus made the 
government more directly responsible to the people. See, too, page 309, Note 2. 

* The right of election in many towns was then confined to the town-officers or to a few influ- 
ential inhabitants. This continued to be the case until the passage of the Reform Bill in 1832. 



4IO LEADING FACTS OF ENGLISH HISTORY. 

23. James II.; the Dispensing Power; Declaration of Indul- 
gence; the Revolution of 1688. — James II. was a zealous Catholic,, 
and therefore naturally desired to secure freedom of worship in England 
for people of his own faith. In his zeal he went too far, and the Pope 
expressed his disgust at the king's foolish rashness. By the exercise 
of the dispensing power x he suspended the Test Act and the Act of 
Uniformity, in order that Catholics might be relieved from the penal- 
ties imposed by these laws, and also for the purpose of giving them 
civil and military offices, from which the Test Act excluded them. 
James also established a new High Commission Court, 2 and made the 
infamous Judge Jeffreys the head of this despotic tribunal. This 
court had the supervision of all churches and institutions of education. 
Its main object was to further the spread of Catholicism, and to silence 
those clergymen who preached against that faith. The king appointed 
a Catholic president of Magdalen College, Oxford, and expelled from 
the college all who opposed the appointment. Later he issued two 
Declarations of Indulgence (1687, 1688), in which he proclaimed uni- 
versal religious toleration. It was generally believed that under cover 
of these declarations the king intended to favor the ascendancy of 
Catholicism. Seven bishops, who petitioned for the privilege of declin- 
ing to read the declarations from their pulpits, were imprisoned, but 
on their trial were acquitted by a jury in full sympathy with them. 

These acts of the king, together with the fact that he had greatly 
increased the standing army, and had stationed it just outside of 
London, caused great alarm throughout England. The majority of 
the people of both parties believed that James was plotting ' to subvert 
and extirpate the Protestant religion and the laws and liberties of the 
kingdom.' 3 

Still, so long as the king remained childless, the nation was encour- 
aged by the hope that James's daughter Mary might succeed him. She 
was known to be a decided Protestant, and she had married William, 
prince of Orange, the head of the Protestant Republic of Holland. 
But the birth of a son to James (1688) put an end to that hope. 
Immediately a number of leading Whigs and Tories 4 united in sending 
an invitation to the prince of Orange to come over to England with an 
army to protect Parliament against the king backed by his standing army. 

24. William and Mary ; Declaration of Right ; Results of the 
Revolution. — William came ; James fled to France. A Convention 
Parliament 5 drew up a Declaration of Right which declared that the 

1 This was the exercise of the right, claimed by the King as one of his prerogatives, of 
exempting individuals from the penalty of certain laws. The King also claimed the right 
of suspending entirely (as in the case of the Declaration of Indulgence) one or more 
statutes. Both these rights had been exercised, at times, from a very early date. 

2 New High Commission Court : see Note 2, on Paragraph 19 of this Summary. 

3 See the language of the Bill of Rights (Constitutional Documents), page 445. 

4 Seven in all; viz. the Earl of Derby, the Earl of Devonshire, the Earl of Shrewsbury, 
Lord Lumley, Bishop Compton (bishop of London), Admiral Edward Russell, and Henry 
Sydney. 

5 Convention Parliament: it was so called because it was not regularly summoned by the 
King — he having fled the country. 



CONSTITUTIONAL SUMMARY. 41 I 

king had abdicated, and which therefore offered the crown to William 
and Mary. They accepted. Thus by the bloodless Revolution of 
1688 the English nation transferred the sovereignty to those who had 
no direct legal claim to it so long as James and his son were living. 
Hence by this act the people deliberately set aside hereditary succes- 
sion, as a binding rule, and revived the primitive English custom of 
choosing such a sovereign as they deemed best. In this sense the 
uprising of 1688 was most emphatically a revolution. It made, as 
Green has said, an English monarch as much the creature of an act of 
Parliament as the pettiest tax-gatherer in his realm. But it was a still 
greater revolution in another way, since it gave a death-blow to the 
direct "personal monarchy," which began with the Tudors two hun- 
dred years before. It is true that in George III.'s reign we shall see 
that power temporarily revived, but we shall never hear anything more 
of that Divine Right of Kings, for which one Stuart " lost his head, and 
another, his crown." Henceforth the House of Commons will govern 
England, although, as we shall see, it will be nearly a hundred and fifty 
years before that House will be able to free itself from the control of 
either a few powerful families on the one hand, or that of the crown 
on the other. 

25. Bill of Rights; the Commons by the Revenue and the 
Mutiny Act obtain Complete Control over the Purse and the 
Sword. — In order to make the constitutional rights of the people 
unmistakably clear, the Bill of Rights (1689) — an expansion of the 
Declaration of Right — was drawn up. The Bill of Rights 1 declared : 
(1) That there should be no suspension or change in the laws, and no 
taxation except by act of Parliament ; (2) that there should be freedom 
of election to Parliament and freedom of speech in Parliament (both 
rights that the Stuarts had attempted to control) ; (3) that the sovereign 
should not keep a standing army, in time of peace, except by consent 
of Parliament; (4) that in future no Roman Catholic should sit on the 
English throne. 2 

This most important bill, having received the signature of William 
and Mary, became law. It constitutes the third great written charter 
or safeguard of English liberty. Taken in connection with Magna 
Carta and the Petition of Right, it forms, according to Lord Chatham, 
" the Bible of the English Constitution." 

But Parliament had not yet finished the work of reform it had taken 
in hand. The executive strength of every government depends on its 
control of two powers, — the purse and the sword. Parliament had, as 
we have seen, got a tight grasp on the first, for the Commons, and the 
Commons alone, could levy taxes ; but within certain very wide limits, 
the personal expenditure of the sovereign still practically remained un- 
checked. Parliament now (1689) took the decisive step of voting by 
the Revenue Act, (1) a specific sum for the maintenance of the crown, 
and (2) of voting this supply, not for the life of the sovereign, as had 

1 Bill of Rights: see Constitutional Documents, page 445. 

2 This last clause was reaffirmed by the Act of Settlement. See page 283, Note 2, and page 446. 



412 LEADING FACTS OF ENGLISH HISTORY. 

been the custom, but for four years. A little later this supply was fixed 
for a single year only. This action gave to the Commons final and 
complete control of the purse. 1 

Next, Parliament passed the Mutiny Act (1689) , 2 which granted the 
king power to enforce martial law — in other words, to maintain a 
standing army — for one year at a time, and no longer save by renewal 
of the law. This act gave Parliament complete control of the sword, 
and thus finished the great work ; for without the annual meeting and 
the annual vote of that body, an English sovereign would at the end 
of a twelvemonth stand penniless and helpless. 

26. Reforms in the Courts; the Toleration Act; the Press 
made Free. — The same year (1689) Parliament effected great and 
sorely needed reforms in the administration of justice. 3 

Next, Parliament passed the Toleration Act (1689). This measure 
granted liberty of worship to all Protestant dissenters except those who 
denied the doctrine of the Trinity. 4 The Toleration Act, however, did 
not abolish the Corporation Act or the Test Act, 5 and it granted no 
religious freedom to Catholics. 6 Still, the Toleration Act was a step 
forward, and it prepared the way for that absolute liberty of worship 
and of religious belief which now exists in England. 

In finance, the reign of William and Mary was marked by the prac- 
tical beginning of the permanent national debt and by the establishment 
of the Bank of England. 7 

Now, too (1695), the English press, for the first time in its history, 
became permanently free, 8 though hampered by a very severe law of 
libel and by stamp duties. 9 From this period the influence of news- 
papers continued to increase, until the final abolition of the stamp duty 
(1855) made it possible to issue penny and even half-penny papers at 
a profit. These cheap newspapers sprang at once into an immense 
circulation among all classes, and thus they became the power for good 
or evil, according to their character, which they are to-day. So that it 
would be no exaggeration to say that back of the power of Parliament 
now stands the greater power of the press. 

27. The House of Commons no longer a Representative 
Body; the First Two Georges and their Ministers. — But now 
that the Revolution of 1688 had done its work, and transferred the 
power of the crown to the House of Commons, a new difficulty arose. 
That was the fact that the Commons did not represent the people, but 
stood simply as the representatives of a small number of rich Whig land- 

1 See page 363, Note 1. 2 See page 282, Note 1. 3 See page 279 and Notes 4 and 5. 

* Freedom of worship was granted to Unitarians in 1812. 

6 The Act of Indemnity of 1727 suspended the penalties of the Test and the Corporation 
Act; they were both repealed in 1828. 

6 Later, very severe laws were enacted against the Catholics; and in the next reign 
(Anne's) the Act of Occasional Conformity and the Schism Act were directed against Prot- 
estant Dissenters. 

7 On the National Debt and the Bank of England, see page 288. 

8 See page 284. 

^Furthermore, the Corresponding Societies' Acts (1793, 1799) operated for a time as a 
decided check on the freedom of the press. See May's Constitutional History. 



CONSTITUTIONAL SUMMARY. 413 

owners. 1 In many towns the right to vote was confined to the town- 
officers or to the well-to-do citizens. In other cases, towns which had 
dwindled in population to a very few inhabitants, continued to have 
the right to send two members to Parliament, while on the other hand 
large and flourishing cities had grown up which had no power to send 
even a single member. The result of this state of things was that the 
wealthy Whig families bought up the votes of electors, and so regularly 
controlled the elections. 

Under the first two Georges, both of whom were foreigners, the 
ministers — especially Robert Walpole, who was the first real prime 
minister of England, and who held his place for twenty years (1722- 
1742) —naturally stood in the foreground. They understood the ins 
and outs of English politics, while the two German sovereigns, the first 
of whom never learned to speak English, neither knew nor cared any- 
thing about them. When men wanted favors or offices, they went to 
the ministers for them. This made men like Walpole so powerful that 
George II. said bitterly, " In this country the ministers are kings." 

28. George III.'s Revival of " Personal Monarchy " ; the 
"King's Friends." — George III. was born in England, and prided 
himself on being an Englishman. He came to the throne fully re- 
solved, as Walpole said, " to make his power shine out," and to carry 
out his mother's constant injunction of, " George, be king ! " To do this, 
he set himself to work to trample on the power of the ministers, to take 
the distribution of offices and honors out of their hands, and further- 
more to break down the influence of the great Whig families in Parlia- 
ment. He had no intention of reforming the House of Commons, or 
of securing the representation of the people in it ; his purpose was to 
gain the control of the House, and use it for his own ends. In this 
he was thoroughly conscientious, according to his idea of right, — for he 
believed with all his heart in promoting the welfare of England, — only 
he thought that welfare depended on the will of the king much more 
than on that of the nation. His maxim was " everything for, but noth- 
ing by, the people." By liberal gifts of money, — he spent ,£25,000 
in a single day (1762) in bribes, 2 — by gifts of offices and of honors to 
those who favored him, and by taking away offices, honors, and pen- 
sions from those who opposed him, George III. succeeded in his pur- 
pose. He raised up a body of men in Parliament, known by the 
significant name of the " King's Friends," who stood ready at all times 
to vote for his measures. In this way he actually revived "personal 
monarchy " 8 for a time, and by using his "Friends" in the House of 
Commons and in the Lords as his tools, he made himself quite inde- 
pendent of the checks imposed by the constitution. 

1 The influence of the Whigs had secured the passage of the Act of Settlement which 
brought in the Georges; for this reason the Whigs had gained the chief political power. 

2 Pitt (Lord Chatham) was one of the few public men of that day who would neither give 
nor take a bribe; Walpole declared with entire truth that the great majority of politicians 
could be bought — it was only a question of price. The King appears to have economized in 
his living, in order to get more money to use as a corruption fund. See May's Constitutional 
History. 3 " Personal Monarchy ": see Paragraph 15 of this Summary. 



414 LEADING FACTS OF ENGLISH HISTORY. 

29. The American Revolution. — The king's power reached its 
greatest height between 1770-1782. He made most disastrous use of 
it, not only at home, but abroad. He insisted that the English colonists 
in America should pay taxes without representation in Parliament, even 
of that imperfect kind which then existed in Great Britain. This de- 
termination brought on the American Revolution — called in England 
the " King's War." The war, in spite of its ardent support by the 
" King's Friends," roused a powerful opposition in Parliament. Chat- 
ham, Burke, Fox, and other able men protested against the king's 
arbitrary course. Finally Dunning moved and carried this resolution 
(1780) in the Commons : " Resolved, that the power of the crown has 
increased, is increasing, and ought to be diminished." This vigorous 
proposition came too late to affect the conduct of the war, and England 
lost the most valuable of her colonial possessions. The struggle, 
which ended successfully for the patriots in America, was in reality part 
of the same battle fought in England by other patriots in the halls of 
Parliament. On the western side of the Atlantic it resulted in the 
establishment of national independence ; on the eastern side, in the 
final overthrow of royal tyranny and the triumph of the constitution. 
It furthermore laid the foundation of that just and generous policy on 
the part of England toward her other colonies, which has made her 
mistress of the largest and most prosperous empire on the globe. 

30. John Wilkes and the Middlesex Elections ; Publication 
of Parliamentary Debates. — Meanwhile John Wilkes, a member of 
the House of Commons, had gained the recognition of a most impor- 
tant principle. He was a coarse and violent opponent of the royal 
policy, and had been expelled from the House on account of his bitter 
personal attack on the king. 1 Several years later (1768) he was re- 
elected to Parliament, but was again expelled for seditious libel ; 2 he 
was three times re-elected by the people of London and Middlesex, 
who looked upon him as the champion of their cause ; each time the 
House refused to permit him to take his seat, but at the fourth election 
he was successful. A few years later (1782) he induced the House to 
strike out from its journal the resolution there recorded against him. 8 
Thus Wilkes, by his indomitable persistency, succeeded in establishing 
the right of the people to elect the candidate of their choice to Parlia- 
ment. During the same period the people gained another great victory 
over Parliament. That body had utterly refused to permit the debates 
to be reported in the newspapers. But the redoubtable Wilkes was 
determined to obtain and publish such reports ; rather than have another 
prolonged battle with him, Parliament conceded the privilege (1771). 
The result was that the public now, for the first time, began to know 
what business Parliament actually transacted, and how it was done. 
This fact of course rendered the members of both houses far more 

1 In No. 45 of the North Briton (1763) Wilkes rudely accused the King of having deliber- 
ately uttered a falsehood in his speech to Parliament. 

2 The libel was contained in a letter written to the newspapers by Wilkes. 

s The resolution was finally stricken out, on the ground that it was " subversive of the 
rights of the whole body of electors." 



CONSTITUTIONAL SUMMARY. 415 

directly responsible to the will of the people than they had ever been 
before. 1 

31. The Reform Bills of 1832, 1867, 1885; Demand for "Man- 
hood Suffrage." — But notwithstanding this decided political progress, 
still the greatest reform of all — that of the system of electing members 
of Parliament — still remained to be accomplished. Cromwell had 
attempted it (1654), but the Restoration put an end to the work which 
the Protector had so wisely begun. Lord Chatham felt the necessity 
so strongly that he had not hesitated to declare (1766) that the system 
of representation — or rather misrepresentation — which then existed 
was the " rotten part of the constitution." " If it does not drop," said 
he, "it must be amputated." Later (1770) he became so alarmed at 
the prospect that he declared that "before the end of the century 
either the Parliament will reform itself from within, or be reformed 
from without with a vengeance." 

But the excitement caused by the French Revolution and the wars 
with Napoleon, not only prevented any general movement of reform, 
but made it possible to enact stringent laws against agitation in that 
direction. 2 Finally, however, the unrepresented millions refused to 
endure their condition any longer. They rose in their might, 3 and by 
terrible riots made it evident that it would be dangerous for Parliament 
to postpone action on their demands. The Reform Bill — " the Great 
Charter of 1832 " — was passed. It swept away the " rotten boroughs," 
which had so long been a disgrace to the country. It granted the right 
of election to many large towns in the midlands and the north which 
had hitherto been unable to send members to Parliament, and it placed 
representation on a broader, healthier, and more equitable basis than 
had ever existed before. It was a significant fact that when the first 
reformed Parliament met, composed largely of Liberals, it showed its true 
spirit by abolishing slavery in the West Indies. Later (1848) the Chart- 
ists advocated further reforms, 4 most of which have since been adopted. 

In 1867 an act, 5 scarcely less important than that of 1832, broadened 
representation still further; and in 1888 the franchise was again ex- 
tended. A little later (1888) the County Council Act reconstructed 
the local self-government of the country in great measure. 6 The cry is 
now for unrestricted "manhood suffrage," — woman suffrage in a lim- 
ited degree already exists, 7 — and the demand is also for the recognition 
of the principle of " one man one vote." 8 

32. Extension of Religious Liberty; Admission of Catholics 
and Jews to Parliament ; Free Trade. — Meanwhile immense prog- 

1 The publication of Division Lists (equivalent to Yeas and Nays) by the House of Com- 
mons in 1836 and by the Lords in 1857 completed this work. Since then the public have 
known how each member of Parliament votes on every important question. 

2 See pages 345, 346. 3 See pages 349-354. 4 See pages 363, 364. 5 See pages 373, 374. 
6 The Local Government or County Council Act: this gives to counties the management 

of their local affairs and secures uniformity of method and of administration. See Chambers' 
Encyclopaedia (revised ed.) " County Councils." 7 See page 373 and Note 4. 

8 That is, the abolition of certain franchise privileges springing from the possession of landed 
property in different counties or Parliamentary districts, by which the owner of such property 
is entitled to cast more than one vote for a candidate for Parliament. 



416 LEADING FACTS OF ENGLISH HISTORY. 

ress was made in extending the principles of religious liberty to all bodies 
of believers. After nearly three hundred years (or since the Second 
Act of Supremacy, 1559), Catholics were (1830) admitted to the House 
of Commons; and in the next generation (1858) Jews were likewise 
admitted. Recent legislation (the Oaths' Act of 1888) makes it impossi- 
ble to exclude any one on account of his religious belief or unbelief. 

Commercially the nation has made equal progress. The barbarous 
corn-laws 1 were repealed in 1848, the narrow protective policy of cen- 
turies abandoned ; and since that period England has practically taken 
its stand on unlimited free trade with all countries. 

33. Condition of Ireland ; Reform in the Land and the Church 
Laws; Civil Service Reform; Education; Conclusion. — In one 
direction, however, there had been no advance. Ireland was politi- 
cally united to Great Britain 2 at the beginning of the century (1801); 
but long after the Irish Catholics had obtained the right of representa- 
tion in Parliament, they were compelled to submit to unjust land laws, 
and also to contribute to the support of the Established (Protestant) 
Church in Ireland. Finally, through the efforts of Mr. Gladstone and 
others, this branch of the Church was disestablished (1869) ; 8 later 
(1870 and 1 88 1) important reforms were effected in the Irish land laws. 4 

To supplement the great electoral reforms which had so widely 
extended the power of the popular vote, two other measures were now 
carried. One was that of Civil Service Reform (1870), which opened 
all clerkships and similar positions in the gift of the government to the 
free competition of candidates, without regard to their political opin- 
ions. This did away with most of that demoralizing system of favor- 
itism which makes government offices the spoils by which successful 
political parties reward " little men for little services." 

The same year ( 1870) England, chiefly through Mr. Forster's efforts, 
took up the second measure, the question of national education. The 
conviction gained ground that if the working-classes are to vote, then 
they must not be allowed to remain in ignorance — the nation declared 
"we must educate our future masters. 1 ' In this spirit a system of 
elementary government schools was established, which gives instruction 
to tens of thousands of children who hitherto were forced to grow up 
without its advantages. 6 These schools are not yet wholly free, although 
recent legislation 6 practically puts most of them on that basis. 

Thus England stands to-day on a strong and broad foundation of 
liberal political suffrage and of national education. The tendencies now 
indicate that before many years both will become absolutely free and 
absolutely universal. 

This brief sketch of English Constitutional History shows conclu- 
sively that the nation's record is one of slow but certain progress. 
To-day England stands a monarchy in name, but a republic in fact; 
a sovereign reigns, but the people rule. The future is in their hands. 

1 Corn Laws: see pages 365-368. 2 On the union of Scotland with England, see page 298. 
3 See page 375. * See pages 376, 377. 5 See page 375. 

6 The Assisted Education Act of 1891. This gives such a degree of government assistance 
to elementary schools that the instruction in them is now virtually rendered free. 



CONSTITUTIONAL DOCUMENTS. 

Abstract of the Articles of Magna Carta (1215). — i. " The Church of Eng- 
land shall be free, and have her whole rights, and her liberties inviolable." The lreedom of 
elections of ecclesiastics by the Church is confirmed. 2-8. Feudal rights guaranteed, and 
abuses remedied. 9-11. Treatment of debtors alleviated. 12. " No scutage or aid [except 
the three customary feudal aids] shall be imposed in our kingdom, unless by the Common 
Council of the realm." x 13. London, and all towns, to have their ancient liberties. 
14. The King binds himself to summon the Common Council of the rtalm respecting the 
assessing of an aid {except as provided in 12) or a scutage. 1 15, 16. Guarantee of feudal 
rights to tenants. 17-19. Provisions respecting holding certain courts. 20, 21. Of amerce- 
ments. They are to be proportionate to the offence, and imposed according to the oath 
of honest men in the neighborhood. No amercement to touch the necessa'-y means of 
subsistence of a free man, the merchandise of a merchant, or the agricultural tools of a 
villein ; earls and barons to be amerced by their equals. 23-34. Miscellaneous, minor 
articles. 35. Weights and measures to be uniform. 36. Nothing shall be given or taken, 
for thefoiture,for the Writ of Inquisition of life or limb, but it shall be freely granted, 
and not denied: 1 37, 38. Provisions respecting land tenure and trials at law. 39. " No 

FREEMAN SHALL BE TAKEN OR IMPRISONED, OR DISSEIZED, OR OUTLAWED, OR BANISHED, OR ANY 
WAYS DESTROYED, NOR WILL WE PASS UPON HIM, NOR WILL WE SEND UPON HIM, UNLESS BY 
THE LAWFUL JUDGMENT OF HIS PEERS, OR BY THE LAW OF THE LAND." 40. " We WILL SELL 
TO NO MAN, WE WILL NOT DENY TO ANY MAN, EITHER JUSTICE OR RIGHT." 41, 42. Pro- 
visions respecting merchants, and freedom of entering and quitting the realm, except in war 
time. 43-46. Minor provisions. 47, 48. Provisions disafforesting all forests seized by- 
John, and guaranteeing forest rights to subjects. 49-60. Various minor provisions. 
62. Provision for carrying out the charter by the barons in case the King fails in the performance 
of his agreement. 63. The freedom of the Church reaffirmed. Every one in the kingdom to 
have and hold his liberties and rights. 

" Given under our hand, in the presence of the witnesses above named, and many others, 
in the meadow called Runnymede between Windsor and Staines, the 15th day of June, in the 
17th of our reign." [Here is appended the King's seal.] 

Confirmation of the Charters by Edward I. (1297). — In 1297 Edward I. 
confirmed Magna Carta and the Forest Charter granted by Henry III. in 1217 by letters 
patent. The document consists of seven articles, of which the following, namely, the sixth and 
seventh, are the most important. 

6. Moreover we have granted for us and our heirs, as well to archbishops, bishops, abbots, 
priors, and other folk of holy Church, as also to earls, barons, and to all the commonalty of 
the land, that for no business from henceforth will we take such manner of aids, tasks, 
nor prises but by the common consent of the realm, and for the common profit thereof, 
saving the ancient aids and prises due and accustomed. 

7. And for so much as the more part of the commonalty of the realm find themselves sore 
grieved with the maletote [i.e. an unjust tax or duty] of wools, that is to wit, a toll of forty 
shillings for every sack of wool, and have made petition to us to release the same; we, at 
their requests, have clearly released it, and have granted for us and our heirs that we shall 
not take such thing nor any other without their common assent and good will; saving to us 
and our heirs the custom of wools, skins, and leather, granted before by the commonalty 
aforesaid. In witness of which things we have caused these our letters to be made patents. 
Witness Edward our son, at London, the 10th day of October, the five-and-twentieth of our 

And be it remembered that this same Charter, in the same terms, word for word, was sealed 
in Flanders under the King's Great Seal, that is to say, at Ghent, the 5th day of November, 
in the 25th year of the reign of our aforesaid Lord the King, and sent into England. 

THE PETITION OF RIGHT. 

June 7, 1628. 

The Petition exhibited to His Majesty by the Lords Spiritual and Temporal, and 
Commons in this present Parliament assembled, concerning divers Rights and Lio- 
erttes of the Subjects, with the King's Majesty's Royal Answer thereunto in full 
Parliament. 

To The King's Most Excellent Majesty: Humbly show unto our Sovereign Lord 
the King, the Lords Spiritual and Temporal, and Commons in Parliament assembled that 
whereas it is declared and enacted by a statute made in the time of the reign of King Edward 



1 These important articles were omitted when Magna Carta was reissued in 1216 by- 
Henry III. Stubbs says they were never restored; but Edward I., in his Confirmation of the 
Charters, seems to reaffirm them. See the Confirmation ; see also Gneist's Eng. Const , II, 9. 

2 This article is regarded by some authorities as the prototype of the statute of Habeas 
Corpus ; others consider that it is implied in Articles 39-40. 

417 



4i8 



LEADING FACTS OF ENGLISH HISTORY. 



the First, commonly called Statutum de Tallagio non concedendo, 1 that no tallage [here, 
a tax levied by the King upon the lands of the crown, and upon all royal towns] or aid shall 
be laid or levied by the King or his heirs in this realm, without the goodwill and assent of 
the Archbishops, Bishops, Earls, Barons, Knights, Burgesses, and other the freemen of the 
commonalty of this realm: and by authority of Parliament holden in the five and twentieth 
year of the reign of King Edward the Third, it is declared and enacted, that from thenceforth 
no person shall be compelled to make any loans to the King against his will, because such 
loans were against reason and the franchise of the land; and by other laws of this realm it is 
provided, that none should be charged by any charge or imposition, called a Benevolence, or 
by such like charge, by which the statutes before-mentioned, and other the good laws and 
statutes of this realm, your subjects have inherited this freedom, that they should not be 
compelled to contribute to any tax, tallage, aid, or other like charge, nor set by common 
consent in Parliament. 

Yet nevertheless, of late divers commissions directed to sundry Commissioners in several 
counties with instructions have issued; by means whereof your people have been in divers 
places assembled, and required to lend certain sums of money unto your Majesty, and many 
of them upon their refusal so to do, have had an oath administered unto them, not warrantable 
by the laws or statutes of this realm, and have been constrained to become bound to make 
appearance and give attendance before your Privy Council, and in other places, and others of 
them have been therefore imprisoned, confined, and sundry other ways molested and dis- 
quieted: and divers other charges have been laid and levied upon your people in several 
counties, by Lords Lieutenants, Deputy Lieutenants, Commissioners for Musters, Justices 
of Peace and others, by command or direction from your Majesty or your Privy Council, 
against the laws and free customs of this realm: 

And where also by the statute called, " The Great Charter of the Liberties of England," it 
is declared and enacted, that no freeman may be taken or imprisoned or be disseised of his 
freeholds or liberties, or his free customs, or be outlawed or exiled; or in any manner 
destroyed, but by the lawful judgment of his peers, or by the law of the land: 

And in the eight and twentieth year of the reign of King Edward the Third, it was 
declared and enacted by authority of Parliament, that no man of what estate or condition that 
he be, should be put out of his lands or tenements, nor taken, nor imprisoned, nor disherited, 
nor put to death, without being brought to answer by due process of law: 

Nevertheless, against the tenor of the said statutes, and other the good laws and statutes 
of your realm, to that end provided, divers of your subjects have of late been imprisoned 
without any cause showed, and when for their deliverance they were brought before your 
Justices, by your Majesty's writs of Habeas Corpus, there to undergo and receive as the 
Court should order, and their keepers commanded to certify the causes of their detainer; no 
cause was certified, but that they were detained by your Majesty's special command, signified 
by the Lords of your Privy Council, and yet were returned back to several prisons, without 
being charged with anything to which they might make answer according to law: 

And whereas of late great companies of soldiers and mariners have been dispersed into 
divers counties of the realm, and the inhabitants against their wills have been compelled to 
receive them into their houses, and there to suffer them to sojourn, against the laws and 
customs of this realm, and to the great grievance and vexation of the people: 

And whereas also by authority of Parliament, in the 25th year of the reign of King Edward 
the Third, it is declared and enacted, that no man shall be forejudged of life or limb against 
the form of the Great Charter, and the law of the land: and by the said Great Charter and 
other the laws and statutes of this your realm, no man ought to be adjudged to death; but by 
the laws established in this your realm, either by the customs of the same realm or by Acts 
of Parliament: and whereas no offender of what kind soever is exempted from the proceedings 
to be used, and punishments to be inflicted by the laws and statutes of this your realm: 
nevertheless of late divers commissions under your Majesty's Great Seal have issued forth, 
by which certain persons have been assigned and appointed Commissioners with power and 
authority to proceed within the land, according to the justice of martial law against such 
soldiers and mariners, or other dissolute persons joining with them, as should commit any 
murder, robbery, felony, mutiny, or other outrage or misdemeanour whatsoever, and by such 
summary course and order, as is agreeable to martial law, and is used in armies in time of 
war, to proceed to the trial and condemnation of such offenders, and them to cause to be 
executed and put to death, according to the law martial : 

By pretext whereof, some of your Majesty's subjects have been by some of the said Com- 
missioners put to death, when and where, if by the laws and statutes of the land they had 
deserved death, by the same laws and statutes also they might, and by no other ought to have 
been, adjudged and executed. 



1 A Statute concerning Tallage not granted by Parliament. This is now held not to have 
been a statute. See Gardiner's Documents 0/ the Puritan Revolution, page 1. It is con- 
sidered by Stubbs an unauthorized and imperfect abstract of Edward I/s Confirmation of 
the Charters — which see. 



CONSTITUTIONAL DOCUMENTS. 419 

And also sundry grievous offenders by colour thereof, claiming an exemption, have 
escaped the punishments due to them by the laws and statutes of this your realm, by reason 
that divers of your officers and ministers of justice have unjustly refused, or forborne to 
proceed against such offenders according to the same laws and statutes, upon pretence 
that the said offenders were punishable only by martial law, and by authority of such com- 
missions as aforesaid, which commissions, and all other of like nature, are wholly and directly 
contrary to the said laws and statutes of this your realm: 

They do therefore humbly pray your Most Excellent Majesty, that no man hereafter 
be compelled to make or yield any gift, loan, benevolence, tax, or such like charge, with- 
out common consent by Act of Parliament ; and that none be called to make answer, or 
take such oath, or to give attendance, or be confined, or otherwise molested or disquieted 
concerning the same, or for refusal thereof; and that no freeman, in any such manner 
as is before-mentioned, be ifnprisoned or detained ; and that your Majesty will be pleased 
to remove the said soldiers and mariners, and that your people may not be so burdened 
in time to come ; and that the foresaid commissions for proceeding by martial law, may 
be revoked and annulled ; and that hereafter no commissions of like nature may issue 
forth to any person or persons whatsoever, to be executed as aforesaid, lest by colour of 
them any of your Majesty's subjects be destroyed or put to death, cotitrary to the laws 
and franchise of the land. 

All which they most humbly pray of your Most Excellent Majesty, as their rights and 
liberties according to the laws and statutes of this realm: and that your Majesty would also 
vouchsafe to declare, that the awards, doings, and proceedings to the prejudice of your people, 
in any of the premises, shall not be drawn hereafter into consequence or example : and that 
your Majesty would be also graciously pleased, for the further comfort and safety of your 
people, to declare your royal will and pleasure, that in the things aforesaid all your officers 
and ministers shall serve you, according to the laws and statutes of this realm, as they tender 
the honour of your Majesty, and the prosperity of this kingdom. 

[Which Petition being read the 2nd of June 1628, the King gave the following evasive and 
unsatisfactory answer, instead of the usual one, given below.] 

The King willeth that right be done according to the laws and customs of the realm; and 
that the statutes be put in due execution, that his subjects may have no cause to complain of 
any wrong or oppressions, contrary to their just rights and liberties, to the preservation 
whereof he holds himself as well obliged as of his prerogative. 

On June 7 the King decided to make answer in the accustomed form, Soil droit fait 
comme est desire. [Equivalent to the form of royal assent, " le roi (or la reigne) le veult." 
See page 362, Note 3. On the Petition of Right see Hallam and compare Gardiner's England 
and his Documents of the Puritaii Revolution. 

The Bill of Rights (1689). — This Bill consists of thirteen Articles, of which the fol- 
lowing is an abstract. It begins by stating that " Whereas the late King James II., by the 
advice of divers evil counsellors, judges, and ministers employed by him, did endeavor 
to subvert and extirpate the Protestant religion, and the laws and liberties of this King- 
dom;" 1. By dispensing with and suspending the laws without consent of Parliament. 2. By 
prosecuting worthy bishops for humbly petitioning him to be excused for concurring in the 
same assumed power. 3. By erecting a High Commission Court. 4. By levying money 
without consent of Parliament. 5. By keeping a standing army in time of peace without 
consent of Parliament. 6. By disarming Protestants and arming Papists. 7. By violating the 
freedom of elections. 8. By arbitrary and illegal prosecutions. 9. By putting corrupt and 
unqualified persons on juries. 10. By requiring excessive bail. n. By imposing excessive 
fines and cruel punishments. 12. By granting fines and forfeiture against persons before 
their conviction. 

It is then declared that " the late King James the Second having abdicated the government, 
and the throne being thereby vacant," therefore the Prince of Orange (" whom it hath pleased 
Almighty God to make the glorious instrument of delivering their kingdom from Popery and 
arbitrary power") did by the advice of" the Lords Spiritual and Temporal, and divers prin- 
cipal persons of the Commons " summon in Convention Parliament. 

This Convention Parliament declares, that the acts above enumerated are contrary to law. 
They then bestow the Crown on William and Mary — the sole regal power to be vested only 
in the Prince of Orange — and provide that after the decease of William and Mary the 
Crown shall descend " to the heirs of the body of the said Princess; and, for default of such 
issue, to the Princess Anne of Denmark * and the heirs of her body ; and for default of such 
issue, to the heirs of the body of the said Prince of Orange." 

Here follows new oaths of allegiance and supremacy in lieu of those formerly required. 
„ The subsequent articles are as follows: IV. Recites the acceptance of the Crown by Wil- 
liam and Mary. V. The Convention Parliament to provide for " the settlement of the religion, 

1 The Princess Anne, sister of the Princess Mary, married Prince George of Denmark in 
1683 ; hence she is here styled " the Princess of Denmark." 



420 LEADING FACTS OF ENGLISH HISTORY. 

laws and liberties of the Kingdom." VI. All the clauses in the Bill of Rights are " the true, 
ancient, and indubitable rights and liberties of the people of this Kingdom." VII. Recognition 
and declaration of William and Mary as King and Queen. VIII. Repetition of the settlement 
of the Crown and limitations of the succession. IX. Exclusion from the Crown of all persons 
holding communion with the " Church of Rome " or who " profess the Popish religion " or who 
" shall marry a Papist." X. Every King or Queen hereafter succeeding to the Crown to assent 
to the Act [i.e . the Test Act of 1673] " disabling Papists from sitting in either House of 
Parliament." XI. The King and Queen assent to all the articles of the Bill of Rights. 
XII. The Dispensing Power abolished. XIII. Exception made in favor of charters, grants, 
and pardons made before October 23, 1689. 

The Act of Settlement (1700-1701). 1 — Excludes Roman Catholics from succes- 
sion to the Crown; and declares that if a Roman Catholic obtains the Crown, " the people of 
these realms shall be and are thereby absolved of their allegiance." Settles the Crown on the 
Electress Sophia, 2 and " the heirs of her body being Protestants." Requires the sovereign to 
join in communion with the Church of England. No war to be undertaken in defence of any 
territories not belonging to the English Crown except with the consent of Parliament. Judges 
to hold their office during good behavior. No pardon by the Crown to be pleadable against an 
impeachment by the House of Commons. 

MISCELLANEOUS ACTS AND LAWS. 

I. Bill of Attainder. — This was a bill (which might in itself decree sentence of death) 
passed by Parliament, by which, originally, the blood of a person held to be convicted of 
treason or felony was declared to be attainted or corrupted so that his power to inherit, trans- 
mit, or hold property was destroyed. After Henry VIII. 's reign the law was modified so as 
not to work " corruption of blood" in the case of new felonies. Under the Stuarts, Bills of 
Attainder were generally brought only in cases where the Commons believed that impeachment 
would fail — as in the cases of Strafford and Laud. It should be noticed that in an Impeach- 
ment the Commons bring the accusation, and the Lords alone act as judges; but that in a 
Bill of Attainder the Commons — that is, the accusers — themselves act as judges, as well as 
the Lords. 

II. Statute of Praemunire (1393). — This statute was enacted to check the power 
claimed by the Pope in England in cases which interfered with power claimed by the King, as 
in appeals made to the Court of Rome respecting Church matters, over which the King's court 
had jurisdiction. The statute received its name from the writ served on the party who had 
broken the law: " Pramiinire facias A. B." ; that is, ' : Cause A. B. to be forewarned" that 
he appear before us to answer the contempt with which he stands charged. Henry VIII. 
made use of this statute in order to compel the clergy to accept his supremacy over the 
English Church. 

III. Habeas Corpus Act (1679) . — The name of this celebrated statute is derived from 
ns referring to the opening words of the writ: " Habeas corpus ad subjiciendum " (see page 
269, Note 1). Sir James Mackintosh declares that the essence of the statute is contained in 
clauses 39, 40 of Magna Carta — which see. The right to habeas corpus was conceded by 
the Petition of Right and also by the Statute of 1640. But in order to better secure the liberty 
of the subject and for prevention of imprisonments beyond the seas, the Habeas Corpus Act 
of 1679 was enacted, regulating the issue and return of writs of habeas corpus. 

The principal provisions of the Act are: 1. Jailers (except in cases of commitment for 
treason or felony) must within three days of the reception of the writ produce the prisoner in 
court, unless the court is at a distance, when the time may be extended to twenty days at the 
most. 2. A jailer, refusing to do this, forfeits .£100 for the first offence, and ,£200 for the 
second. 3. No one set at liberty upon any Habeas Corpus to be re-committed for the same 
offence except by the court having jurisdiction of the case. 4. The Act not to apply to cases 
of debt. 

1 This act, says Taswell Langmead, is " the Title Deed of the reigning Dynasty, and a 
veritable original contract between the Crown and the People." 

2 The Electress Sophia was the granddaughter of James I. ; she married the Elector of Han- 
over, and became mother of George I. See page 403. 



PRINCIPAL DATES IN ENGLISH HISTORY. 



421 



SUMMARY OF THE PRINCIPAL DATES IN ENGLISH 

HISTORY. 1 

[The * marks the most important dates.] 



I. The Prehistoric Period. 

Britain part of the continent of Europe. 

The Rough-Stone Age. 

The Polished-Stone Age. 

Age of Bronze begins, 1500 B.C.? 

Britain mentioned (?) by the name of the 

"Tin Islands" by Herodotus, B.C. 450. 
Britain mentioned by the name of "Albion" 

by Aristotle? B.C. 350? 
Pytheas visits and describes Britain, B.C. 

330? 
Introduction of Iron, B.C. 250? 

II. The Roman Period, b.c. 55, 54; 

A.D. 43-4IO. 

*Csesar lands in Britain, B.C. 55 and 54. 

Claudius begins the conquest of Britain, 
A.D. 43. 

Caractacus taken prisoner, 50. 

Slaughter of the Druids, '1. 

Revolt of Boadicea, 61. 

Establishment of the Roman power by Agri- 
cola, 78-84. 

Agricola builds a line of forts, 81. 

Hadrian's Wall, 121 ? 
♦Britain abandoned by the Romans, 410. 

III. The Saxon, or Early English, 
Period, 449-1013; 1042- 1066. 

*The Jutes settle in Kent, 449. 
Ella and Cissa found the kingdom of Sussex, 

477- 
Cerdic founds the kingdom of Wessex, 495. 
Arthur defeats the Saxons, 520? 
The Angles settle Northumbria, 547. 
Gildas writes his history of Britain, 550? 
♦Landing of Augustine; conversion of Kent, 

597- 
Caedmon, first English poet, 664. 
Church council a. Whitby, 664. 



Conversion of Northumbria, 667. 

Church bells first mentioned by Bede, 680. 

Bede, the historian, dies, 735. 

Egbert takes refuge at the court of Charle- 
magne, 786. 

First landing of the Danes in England, 789. 
♦Egbert (king of Wessex, conquers a large 
part of the country (827), and takes the 
title of " King of the English "), 828. 

Alfred the Great, 871. 

The Anglo-Saxon Chronicle becomes impor- 
tant from about this time, 871. 
♦Treaty of Wedmore, 879. 

Alfred issues his code of laws, 890. 

Alfred builds a fleet, 897. 

Frithguilds (for mutual defence, etc.) men- 
tioned about 930? 

Dunstan, Archbishop of Canterbury, 960. 
♦Britain is called England, 960? 

Struggle between the regular and secular 
clergy, 975. 

Invasion of the Danes — Danegeld paid by 
decree of the Witan for the first time, 991. 

IV. Danish Period, 101 3-1042. 

Sweyn, the Dane, is acknowledged king of 
the English, 1013. 

Edward (afterward King Edward the Con- 
fessor) is taken to Normandy, where he 
remains until 1042, 1013. 

Canute, the Dane, chosen king, 1017. 

Divides England into four great earldoms, 
1017. 

Godwin made Earl of Wessex, 1020. 

V. The Saxon, or Early English, 
Period (restored), 1042-1066. 

Edward the Confessor, 1042. 

Edward begins building Westminster Abbey, 
1049. 



1 Many early dates are approximate only. 



422 



LEADING FACTS OF ENGLISH HISTORY. 



William, Duke of Normandy, visits Edward, 

1052. 
Harold, last of the Saxon kings, 1066. 
William of Normandy claims the throne, 

1066. 
Invasion from Norway; battle of Stamford 

Bridge, Sept. 25, 1066. 
William of Normandy lands at Pevensey, 

Sept. 28, 1066. 
*Battle of Senlac, or Hastings — Harold 

killed — Oct. 14, 1066. 



VI. The Norman Period, 1066- 
" 54- 

William (crowned in Westminster Abbey 
on Christmas Day), 1066. 

System of feudal land-tenure begins to be 
regularly organized, 1066 ? 
*William grants a charter to London, 1066? 

Begins building Tower of London, 1066? 

Beginning of Norman architecture, 1066? 

Curfew introduced, about 1068? 

William harries the North, 1069. 

Law of English ry, 1069? 

Reorganizes the church, 1070. 

Creates the Palatine earldoms, 1070? 

Establishes separate ecclesiastical courts, 
1070? 

Trial by battle introduced, 1070? 

The English, under Hereward, finally de- 
feated at Ely, 1071. 

William invades Scotland, and compels the 
king to do him homage, 1072. 

William refuses to become subject to the 
Pope, 1076. 
*Domesday Book completed, 1086. — Reports : 
Tenants-in-chief (barons, bishops, ab- 
bots), about 1500; Under-tenants (chiefly 
English dispossessed of their estates, about 
8000; Yeomen, north of Watling St., about 
35,000 ; Yeomen, sunk to a condition 
bordering on serfdom (south of Watling 
St.), about 90,000; Villeins, or serfs, about 
109,000; Slaves, about, 25,000; Citizens, 
monks, nuns, priests, etc., about 1,732,000; 
Total population, about 2,000,000. 
*A11 the landholders of England swear alle- 
giance to William, at Salisbury, 1086. 

William Rufus, 1087. 

Suppresses rebellion of the barons, 1088. 

Makes war on Normandy, 1090. 

Quarrel with Anselm — robs church of its 
revenue, 1094. 

Suppresses second rebellion of the barons, 
1095. 



Builds Westminster Hall, London Bridgd 

1097? 
Henry I., 1100. 
*First charter of liberties, 1100. 
Expels Robert of Belesme, 1102. 
Quarrels with Anselm about investitures, 

1103. 
Battle of Tinchebrai — Normandy conquered, 

1 106. 
Henry and Anselm come to terms, 1106. 
Matilda, d. of the king, marries Geoffrey of 

Anjou, 1128. 
Barons swear to make Matilda successor to 

the throne, 1133. 
Stephen, 1135. 
Charter of liberties, 1135. 
Tournaments begin, 1135? 
Matilda, d. of Henry L, claims the crown, 

"35- 
Battle of the Standard, 1138. 
Civil war begins, n 39. 
William of Malmesbury's Chronicle closes, 

1142. 
Knights Hospitallers established in England, 

1150? 
Matilda's son (Henry II.) marries Eleanor 

of France, and acquires her provinces, 

1152. 
Treaty of Wallingford, 1153. 

VII. The Angevin, or Planta- 
genet, Period, i 154-1399. 

Henry II., 1154. 
*Merchant and craft guilds become prominent, 

"54? 
*Payment of scutage regularly established, 

1160 (see 1385). 
*Constitutions of Clarendon, 1164. 
Quarrel with Becket, 1164. 
Coats of Arms, n 65? 
* Assize of Clarendon, 1166. 

Becket murdered, 1170. 
^Partial conquest of Ireland, 1171. 
Henry's wife and sons rebel, 1173. 
Henry does penance at Becket's tomb, 1174. 
Rebellion of barons suppressed, 1174. 
Assize of Northampton (divides England 

into judicial circuits), 1176. 
Five judges appointed to hear all cases, 1178. 
Knights Templars established in England, 
1180? 
Assize of Arms (regulates national militia), 
1181. 
Henry's sons again rebel, 1183. 
Assize of the Forest, 1184. 



PRINCIPAL DATES IN ENGLISH HISTORY. 



423 



*SaIadin Tithe (first tax on personal property) , 
1188. 

*Great Assize (substitutes trial by jury in 
civil cases for trial by battle), 11 88? 

Richard I., 1189. 

Richard persecutes the Jews, sells offices, 
extorts money, n 89. 
♦Richard grants many town charters, 1189. 

Joins the third crusade, 1190. 
*Legal recognition of the corporation of Lon- 
don marks the triumph of the mercantile 
element, 1191. 

Richard taken prisoner, 1192. 

England ransoms the king, 1194. 

Returns to England, and is re-crowned; ex- 
torts money, 1194. 

Builds Chateau Gaillard, near Rouen, 1197. 

John, 1199. 

Introduction of the mariner's compass, 1200? 

Gothic, or Pointed, architecture, begins in 
England, 1200? 

Layamon's " Brut," 1200? 

Murder (?) of Arthur, 1203. 
*Loss of Normandy, 1204. 

John refuses to receive Archbishop Langton, 
1208. 

The kingdom placed under an interdict, 1208. 

The Pope excommunicates John, 1209. 

Threatens to depose him, 1211. 

John becomes the Pope's vassal, 1213. 
The meeting at St. Albans (first representative 
assembly on record) to consider measures 
of reform, 1213. 
The Great Charter, June 15, 1215. 

The Pope refuses to recognize the charter, 
and excommunicates the leaders of the 
barons, 1215. 

The barons invite Louis, son of the king of 
France, to take the crown, 1215. 

War between John and the barons, 1216. 

Henry III., 1216. 

Louis goes back to France, 121 7. 

Charter of the Forests, 1217. 

Henry begins rebuilding Westminster Abbey, 
1220? 

The Mendicant Friars land in England, 1221. 

Coal mines opened, 1234? 
♦Parliament of Merton rejects the Canon Law, 
1236. 

All persons having an income of ,£20 a year 
from landed property forced to receive 
knighthood, 1256. 

The Pope first claims " annates " from Eng- 
land, 1256. 

"The Mad Parliament" draws up the Pro- 
visions of Oxford, 1258. 



Matthew Paris, greatest of the mediaeval 
chroniclers, dies, 1259. 

The Barons' War; battle of Lewes, 1264. 
♦Walter de Merton founds Merton College, 
Oxford (beginning of the collegiate sys- 
tem), 1264. 
♦Rise of the House of Commons under Earl 
Simon de Montfort, 1265. 

Battle of Evesham; Earl Simon killed, 1265. 
♦Roger Bacon issues his " Opus Majus," 1267. 

Roger Bacon describes gunpowder? 1267. 

Courts of Exchequer, King's Bench, and 
Common Pleas fully organized, 1272? 

Edward I., 1272. 

The groat (four pence) first coined, 1272. 
Up to this date the only coin issued was 
the silver penny. 
♦Statute of Mortmain, 1279. 

Conquest of Wales, 1284. 

First Prince of Wales, 1284? 
♦The Statute of De Donis, or Entail, 1285. 

Customs (on wine, wool, etc.) first levied, 
1290? 

The Jews expelled fro~> England, 1290. 

Statute of Quia Emptores (increases number 
of small freeholders holding directly from 
the crown or great lords) , 1290. 

Alliance between Scotland and France against 
England, 1294. 
♦First complete Parliament (Lords, Clergy, 
and Commons: subsequently the clergy 
usually met by themselves in convoca- 
tion), 1295. 

War with Scotland, 1295-6. 

Edward seizes the wool of the merchants 
(Maltote, or "evil tax"), 1297. 

Edward confirms the charters, 1297. 

Consent of Parliament established as neces- 
sary to taxation (by the confirmation of 
the charters), 1297. 

Chimneys begin to come into use, 1300? 

Renewed war with Scotland; execution of 
Wallace; defeat of Bruce, 1303-6. 

Edward II., 1307. 

Seizure of the property of the Knights Tem- 
plars, 1308. 

Gaveston dismissed, 1308. 

Torture first employed in England, 1310? 

The Lords Ordainers (to regulate the king's 
household), 1310. 

Gaveston executed, 131 2. 

Battle of Bannockburn, 1314. 
♦House of Commons gains a share in legisla- 
tion, 1322. 

Roger Mortimer and the queen conspire 
against Edward, 1326. 



424 



LEADING FACTS OF ENGLISH HISTORY. 



The Despensers (king's favorites) hanged, 
1326. 

The king deposed and murdered, 1327. 

Edward III., 1327. 

Mixed armor (plate and mail), 1327? 

Many brilliant tournaments held, 1327? 

Independence of Scotland recognized, 1328. 
*Woollen manufacture introduced from Flan- 
ders, 1331? 
*House of Commons (Knights of the Shire 
and Commons united) begin to sit by 
themselves as a distinct body, 1333. 

Edward takes the title of King of France, 

1337- 
The first gold coins struck, 1337? 
Creates his son Edward Duke of Cornwall 

(title of duke first used), 1337. 
*Beginning of the Hundred Years' War with 

France, 1338 (see 1453). 
Talliage (tax on towns and lands held by the 
crown) abolished, 1340. 
*Victory of Crecy (cannon first used?), 1346. 
*Capture of Calais, 1347. 

Court of Chancery finally established, 1348. 
*The Black Death, 1349. 

*First Statute of Laborers (regulates price of 
labor, etc.), 1349. 
First Statute of Provisors (limits power of 

Pope in England), 1351. 
First Statute of Treasons, 1352. 
First Statute of Praemunire (limits power of 

the Pope in England), 1353 (see 1393). 
Many Staples (market or custom towns) es- 
tablished, 1354? 
Great increase of the woollen trade with the 
continent, 1354? 
*Victory of Poitiers, 1356. 
*Mandeville writes his Travels, 1360? 
Exportation of corn forbidden, 1360 (see 
1846). 
*Treaty of Bretigny, 1360. 
No tax to be levied on wool without consent 

of Parliament, 1362; renewed, 1371. 
First iron foundries, 1370? 
*Wykeham founds Winchester College (first 
great public school) , 1373; completes C, 
1393- 
Parliament first grants tonnage and pound- 
age (a tax on merchandise) to the king, 
1373- 
The House of Commons gains the right of 

impeaching the king's ministers, 1376. 
♦Wycliffe begins the Reformation (rise of the 
Lollards), 1377? 
Richard II., 1377. 
*Wycliffe translates the Bible, 1380? 



*Peasant revolts led by Wat Tyler, 1381. 

Langland writes " Piers Ploughman," 1381. 
*Chaucer begins the " Canterbury Tales," 
1384? _ 

Scutage given up, 1385? (see 1160). 

The title of Marquis created, 1386. 
*The Great Statute of Praemunire (see 1353) , 

1393- 

Richard banishes the Duke of Hereford (son 
of John of Gaunt, Duke of Lancaster) and 
the Duke of Norfolk, 1398. 

Death of John of Gaunt; Richard seizes his 
estate, 1399. 

The Duke of Hereford (now Duke of Lan- 
caster) returns to England, claims his 
estate and the crown, 1399. 

Richard deposed (and, later, murdered), 

1399- 
*Parliament sets aside the order of succession 
and chooses Henry king, 1399. 

VIII. The Lancastrian Period 
(Red Rose), 1 399-1461. 

Henry IV., 1399. 

Complete plate armor, 1400? 
Rebellion of Glendower, 1400. 
Fortescue writes on government, 1400? 
*First statute punishing heretics with death, 
1 401. 
First martyr (William Sawtre) under the 

new law), 1401. 
Revolt of the Percies; battle of Shrewsbury, 
1403. 
*The House of Commons obtains the exclusive 
right to make grants of money, 1407. 
Henry V., 1413. 
*Statutes to be made by Parliament without 
alteration by the king, 1414. 
Lollard conspiracies, 1414-1415. 
*Battle of Agincourt, 1415. 
*Treaty of Troyes, 1420. 
Henry VI., 1422 (crowned king of England 

and France). 
Dukes of Bedford and Gloucester Protectors 

during the king's minority, 1422. 
The Paston Letters, 1424-1509. 
Siege of Orleans, 1428. 
*County suffrage restricted, 1430. 
Joan of Arc burned, 1431. 
Title of Viscount created, 1440. 
*Cade's insurrection, 1450. 
*End of the Hundred Years' War; loss o! 

France, 1453 (see 1338). 
*Wars of the Roses, 1455-1485. 
Henry dethroned, 1461. 



PRINCIPAL DATES IN ENGLISH HISTORY. 



425 



IX. The Yorkist Period (White 

Rose), 1461-1485. 

Edward IV., 1461. 

Henry (the late king) captured and im- 
prisoned, 1465. 
Warwick, " the king-maker," restores Henry 
VI., 1470. 

Queen Margaret's son killed at Tewksbury 
and the queen imprisoned, 1471. 

Henry dies a prisoner in the Tower, 1471. 

Edward exacts "benevolences," 1475. 

Queen Margaret ransomed and leaves Eng- 
land, 1476. 
*Caxton prints the first book in England, 
1477. 

Edward V., 1483. 

Richard, Duke of Gloucester, appointed 
Protector, 1483. 

Murders Edward in the Tower (?), 1483. 

Richard III., 1483. 

Suppresses rebellion, 1483. 

College of Heralds established, 1483. 

Benevolences abolished, 1484 (see 1475). 
*Battle of Bosworth Field, 1485. 

X. The Tudor Period, 1485-1603. 

Henry VII., 1485. 

Sovereigns first coined, 1485? 

Henry marries Elizabeth of York, thus unit- 
ing the Houses of Lancaster and York, 
i486. 

Court of Star-Chamber, 1487. 

The Pretenders Simnel and Warbeck, 1487 
and 1492. 

Statutes of Livery and Maintenance enforced 
by Empson and Dudley, 1487. 

Poynings' Act (puts an end to the legisla- 
tive power of the English colony in Ire- 
land), 1494. 

The Great Intercourse (commercial treaty 
between England and the Netherlands), 
1496. 
*The Cabots discover the American continent, 

1497; 
♦Beginning of "the New Learning" (Colet, 
Erasmus, More), 1499. 

Henry VIII., 1509. 

Colet founds St. Paul's School, 1512. 

Battle of Flodden, 1513. 

Wolsey becomes cardinal and lord chancel- 
lor, 1515. 

More writes " Utopia," 1516. 

Rude firearms begin to come into use, 1517? 

Field of the Cloth of Gold, 1520. 



The Pope confers on Henry the title of " De- 
fender of the Faith," 1521. 

Tyndall and Coverdale translate the Bible, 
1525-30- 

Henry begins divorce suit against Catharine 
of Aragon, 1528. 

Fall of Wolsey, 1529. 

Cranmer obtains the opinions of the Univer- 
sities, 1530. 

Clergy compelled to acknowledge Henry the 
Head of the English Church, 1531. 

Appeals to Rome forbidden, 1532. 

Henry privately marries Anne Boleyn, 1532. 

Cranmer pronounces Henry's marriage with 
Catharine void, 1533. 

London paved, 1533? 

Payment of " annates " to Rome forbidden, 
1534. 

The authority of the Pope in England abol- 
ished, 1534. 
*Act of Supremacy declares the king Supreme 
Head of the Church of England, 1535. 

Fisher and More executed, 1535. 

Pope threatens to excommunicate Henry, 
1535- 

Cromwell comes to power, 1535. 

England and Wales finally united, 1536. 

Benefit of clergy restricted, 1536. 
♦Dissolution of the monasteries begins, 1536. 

Much distress among the poor; great in- 
crease of vagrants, 1536? 

The Bible translated and placed in the 
churches, 1536. 

Stringent vagrant laws, 1536? 

Insurrection in the North (" Pilgrimage of 
Grace"), 1536. 

Many new nobles created, 1536? 

Parish registers begin, 1538. 

The king's Proclamations to have the force 
of law, 1539 (repealed, 1547). 

The abbots cease to sit in the House of 
Lords, 1539. 

The Six Articles, 1539. 

Cromwell executed, 1540. 

Hall's Chronicle, 1540? 

Statute punishing witchcraft with death, 

i54i- 
First cannon cast in England, 1543. 
Edward VI., 1547. 
Duke of Somerset made Protector during 

Edward's minority, 1547. 
Bethlehem Hospital (first for the insane), 

1547- 
Battle of Pinkie, 1547. 
Trades-unions formed, 1548? 
First English Prayer-Book, 1549. 



426 



LEADING FACTS OF ENGLISH HISTORY. 



Latimer preaches, 1549. 
*Act of Uniformity (virtually establishes 
Protestantism), 1549. 

First Huguenot emigration to England, 1550? 

The Forty-Two Articles of Religion (after- 
ward reduced to thirty-nine), 1552. 

Second Act of Uniformity, and Second 
Prayer-Book, 1552. 

Great seizure of unenclosed lands by the 
nobles, 1552? 
♦Many Protestant grammar schools and several 
hospitals founded by the king, 1552-3. 

Mary, 1553. 

Lady Jane Grey proclaimed queen, 1553. 

Edward's laws, establishing Protestantism, 
repealed, 1553. 

Wyatt's rebellion, 1554. 

Lady Jane Grey executed, 1554. 

Mary marries Philip II. of Spain, 1554. 

Statutes against the Pope (since 1529) re- 
pealed; Catholicism re-established, 1554. 

Coaches introduced into England, 1555? 

Severe persecution of the Protestants (Cran- 
mer, Ridley, and Latimer burned), 1555-6. 

Watches begin to come into use in England, 

1557? 
Loss of Calais, 1558. 
Elizabeth, 1558. 
Acts of Supremacy and Uniformity re-enacted 

(Protestantism restored), 1559. 
Glass manufactured in England, 1559? 
John Knox preaches in Edinburgh, 1559. 
Hawkins begins the slave trade, 1562. 
The Thirty-Nine Articles established, 1563. 
Insurrections in behalf of Romanism, 1569. 
Ascham publishes " The Schoolmaster," 

1570- 
The English Puritans begin to be prominent, 

I57I ? 
Holinshed's Chronicle, 1577. 
Drake sails round the globe, 1577. 
Lyly publishes his " Euphues," 1579. 
Manufacture of paper in England, 1580? 
Jesuit missionaries land in England, 1580. 
High Commission Court established, 1583. 
Raleigh attempts to colonize Virginia, 1584. 
♦Shakespeare at the Blackfriars and Globe 

Theatres in London, 1586? 
Raleigh introduces tobacco, 1586? 
Raleigh introduces the potato into Ireland, 

1586? 
Execution of Mary Queen of Scots, 1587. 
*Defeat of the Armada, 1588. 
Spenser publishes "The Faerie Queene," 

. IS9 °' 
Sidney writes his " Arcadia," 1590? 



Marlowe and Jonson write, 1590? 

Hooker writes, 1594? 

Establishment of the East India Company, 

1600. 
First regular Poor-Law, 1601. , 

Completion of the conquest of Ireland, 1603. 



XI. 



The Stuart Period (First 
Part), 1 603-1 649. 



James I., 1603 (king of Scotland and Eng- 
land). 

The Millenary Petition, 1603. 

Plot against the king; Raleigh imprisoned, 
1603. 

New laws punishing witchcraft, 1603? 

Hampton Court Conference, 1604. 

James proclaims the Divine Right of Kings, 
1604? 

Right of the Commons to control their elec- 
tions established, 1604. 

The Gunpowder Plot, 1605. 

Severe laws against the Catholics, 1606. 
*Colony founded at Jamestown, Virginia, 1607. 

The Baptists establish a society in London, 
1608? 

Protestant colonies planted in Ulster, Ireland, 
1610. 

James creates baronets, 161 1. 
♦Authorized translation of the Bible com- 
pleted, 1611. 

Beaumont and Fletcher write, 1613? 

Execution of Raleigh, 1618. 

Post-office regularly established throughout 
the country, 1619? 
♦Bacon publishes his New System of Phil- 
osophy, 1620. 
♦Harvey discovers the circulation of the blood, 

1620. 
♦The Pilgrims land at Plymouth, New Eng- 
land, 1620. 

Massinger writes, 1620. 

Impeachment of Lord Bacon, 1621. 

The Commons protest against the king's 
violation of their liberties, 1621. 

James tears up the protest, 1621. 

Imprisons members of Parliament, 1622. 
♦First regular newspaper in England, 1622. 

First patent for inventions granted, 1623? 

Right of sanctuary abolished, 1624. 

Charles I., 1625. 

Italian architecture begins in England, 1625? 

Parliament demands reforms, and refuses 
grants of money unless they are conceded, 
1625. 



PRINCIPAL DATES IN ENGLISH HISTORY. 



427 



Hackney coaches introduced, 1625? 

Coal comes into general use, 1625? 

Sir John Eliot sent to the Tower, 1626. 

The king raises money illegally, 1626. 

John Hampden imprisoned for refusing to 

lend money to the king, 1627. 
The Petition of Right, 1628. 

Wentworth (Strafford) and Laud with the 
policy of " Thorough," 1635. 

Sedan chairs come into use, 1635? 

Hampden refuses to pay ship-money, 1637. 

The king tries to force a liturgy on the Scot- 
tish Church, 1637. [1638. 

Scottish National (Presbyterian) Covenant, 

The Short Parliament, 1640. 
*The Long Parliament meets, 1640. 

Torture last used in England, 1640? 

Laud imprisoned (later executed), 1640. 

Baker publishes his Chronicle, 1641. 

Execution of Strafford, 1641. 

The Triennial Act (for summoning a new 
Parliament every three years), 1641. 

Parliament resolves not to be adjourned or 
dissolved except by its own consent, 
1641. 

Abolishes the Star-Chamber and High Com- 
mission Courts, 1 641. 

Passes statutes against ship-money and other 
illegal measures of the king, 1641. 

The Grand Remonstrance, 1641. 

Hobbe' - wites, 1642? 

The king attempts to seize the five members, 
1642. 
♦Beginning of the Civil War (battle of Edge- 
hill), 1642. 

Cromwell organizes his " Ironsides," 1642. 
*The Solemn League and Covenant, 1643. 

The Excise Act, 1643. 

The Independents become prominent, 1643? 

The Westminster Assembly of Divines 
(draws up the Presbyterian creed, etc.), 

1643-7- 
Stringent restrictions on the Press, 1644. 
Milton's Areopagitica, 1644. 
Battle of Marston Moor, 1644. 
The Self-Denying Ordinance, 1645. 
The " New Model " army, 1645. 
Battle of Naseby, 1643. 
Charles a prisoner, 1647. 
Charles makes a secret treaty with the Scots, 

1647. 
Royalist revolt, 1648. 
Pride's Purge, 1648. 
The Rump Parliament, 1648. 
♦Execution of the king, 1649. 



XII. The Commonwealth and Pro- 
tectorate Period, 1 649-1 660. 

House of Lords abolished, 1649 '• meets next, 
1660. 

The Commonwealth, or Republic, declared, 
1649. 

Charles II. proclaimed king in Scotland, 1649. 

Many Cavaliers emigrate to Virginia, 1649? 

Cromwell's campaign in Ireland, 1649-50. 

Rise of the Quakers, 1650? 

Iron (and other metal) rolling-mills, 1650? 

Battle of Dunbar, 1650. 

Cotton begins to be largely imported, 1650? 

Battle of Worcester (flight of Charles II.) , 
1651. 

The Navigation Act (modified, 1823; re- 
pealed, 1849), 1 65 1. 

War with the Dutch, 1652. 

Coffee-houses opened, 1652? 

Izaak Walton's " Complete Angler," 1653. 

Cromwell expels Parliament, 1653. 

" Barebone's Parliament," 1653. 

The Instrument of Government, 1653. 
♦Cromwell, Protector, 1653. 

War with Spain, 1655. 

England divided into eleven military dis- 
tricts, 1655. 

The Humble Petition and Advice, 1657. 

Richard Cromwell, Protector, 1658. 

Fuller's Church History, 1658. 

The army compels Richard to abdicate, 1659. 

General Monk calls a " Free Parliament," 
1660. 

Charles II. sends the Declaration of Breda, 
1660. 
♦The Convention Parliament invites Charles 
II. to return, 1660. 

XIII. The Stuart Period (Second 

Part), 1 660-1 714. 

Charles II., 1660. 

Standing army established, 1660. 
Regicides executed, 1660. 
Board of Trade organized, 1660. 
Feudal dues and services abolished, 1660. 
Tea introduced, 1660? 
Corporation Act, 1661 (repealed, 1828). 
Act of Uniformity re-enacted, 1662. 
Presbyterian clergy driven out, 1662. 
Press licensing act, 1662 (see 1695). 
Royal Society founded in London, 1662. 
Butler writes " Hudibras," 1663. 
Hearth Tax, 1663 (repealed, 1689) 



428 



LEADING FACTS OF ENGLISH HISTORY. 



Convocation surrenders its right of self- 
taxation, 1663. 

Conventicle Act, 1664. 

Repeal of Triennial Act, 1664 (see 1641). 

Seizure of New Amsterdam (New York), 
1664. 

War with the Dutch, 1665. 

The Plague in London, 1665. 

The Five-Mile Act, 1665. 

Great fire of London, 1666. 

The Dutch sail up the Thames, 1667. 

The Cabal comes into power, 1667. 

Milton publishes " Paradise Lost," 1667. 
^Secret Treaty of Dover, 1670. 

Bunyan writes " Pilgrim's Progress," 1670. 

Clarendon's History of the Rebellion, 1670? 

The king robs the Exchequer, 1672. 

Declaration of Indulgence, 1672. 

The Test Act, 1673 (repealed, 1828). 

Wren begins to rebuild St. Paul's (Italian 

style), 1675. 
*The so-called Popish Plot, 1678. 
♦The Disabling Act (excludes Catholics) ,1678. 
♦The Habeas Corpus Act passed, 1679. 

The E; "lution Bill introduced, 1679. 
*Rise of Whigs and Tories, 1680? 

Dryden writes " Absalom and Achitophel," 
1681. 

The Rye House Plot, 1683. 

Execution of Russell and Sydney, 1683. 

Town charters revoked, 1684. 

New England charters revoked, 1684. 

James II., 1685. 

Monmouth's rebellion; Battle of Sedgemoor, 
1685. 

The Bloody Assizes, 1685. 

Many Huguenots settle in England, 1685. 

Huguenots begin silk manufacture in Eng- 
land, 1685? 
*Newton demonstrates the law of gravitation, 
1687. 

Tyrconnel made Lord Deputy of Ireland, 
1687. 

"Lilli Burlero," 1687. 

Expulsion of the Fellows of Magdalen Col- 
lege, 1687. 

Declaration of Indulgence, 1687-8. 

Imprisonment of the Seven Bishops; trial 
and acquittal, 1688. 

Birth of Prince James, " the Pretender," 
1688. 

William of Orange invited to England, 1688. 

Arrival of William; his Declaration, 1688. 

Flight of James, 1688. 

The Convention Parliament, 1689. 

The Declaration of Right, 1689. 



William and Mary (Orange-Stuart), 
1689. 

Grand Alliance against Louis XIV., 1689. 

Jacobite rebellion in Scotland (Killiecrankie), 
1689. 

The bayonet begins to be used, 1689? 

Siege of Londonderry, 1689. 
♦Mutiny Bill passes, 1689. 
♦Toleration Act, 1689. 
*Bill of Rights, 1689. 

Secession of the non-jurors, 1689. 

Act of Grace, 1690. 

Battle of Beachy Head, 1690. 
♦Battle of the Boyne, 1690. 

Chelsea army hospital, 1690. 

Treaty of Limerick, 1691. 

Severe laws against Irish Catholics, 1692. 

Massacre of Glencoe, 1692. 

Lord Churchill (Duke of Marlborough) de- 
prived of office, 1692. 

Battle of La Hogue, 1692. 

Flint-lock muskets come into use, 1692? 
^Beginning of the national debt, 1693. 
♦Bank of England established, 1694. 

Tax on paper, 1694 (repealed, 1861). 

Death of Queen Mary, 1694. 

Triennial Act restored, 1694 (see 1664). 
♦The press made free, 1695. 

Greenwich Hospital, for seamen, established, 
1696. 

Window tax imposed, 1696 (see 1851). 

Trials for Treason Act (reforms political 
trials), 1696. 

Peace of Ryswick, 1697. 

The Partition Treaties (an attempt to settle 
the question of the Spanish Succession), 
1698 and 1700. 

London clubs begin, 1700? 

Severe Act against Roman Catholics, 1700 
(repealed, 1778). 
♦Act of Settlement, 1701. 

Abjuration Act, 1702. 

Anne, 1702 (last of the Stuart sovereigns). 

War with France, 1702. 

Great power of the Duchess of Marlborough ,, 
1702. 

Judges to hold office during good behavior, 
1702. 

High and Low Church parties, 1703. 

First daily newspaper in England, 1703. 
♦Battle of Blenheim, 1704. 
♦Gibraltar taken, 1704. 

John Locke dies, 1704. 

Battle of Ramillies, 1706. 
♦Union of England and Scotland (Great 
Britain), 1707. 



PRINCIPAL DATES IN ENGLISH HISTORY. 



429 



Union Jack adopted, 1707. 

Mrs. Masham comes into power, 1710. 

Trial of Dr. Sacheverell, 1710. 

Marlborough disgraced, 1711. 

Property qualification for members of the 
House of Commons established, 1711 (re- 
pealed, 1858). 

Act against Occasional Conformity, 1711 (re- 
pealed, 1718). 

Addison writes for the " Spectator," 1711. 

Pope writes, 1712. 

Newcomen invents his steam-engine (for 
pumping mines), 1712. 
Treaty of Utrecht, 1713. 

The Schism Act, 1714 (repealed, 1718). 

XIV. The Hanoverian Period, 
1 714 to the Present Time. 

George I.? 1714. 

Jacobite rebellion in Scotland, in favor of the 

Old Pretender, 1715. 
Septennial Act, 1716. 
Convocation suspended, 1717-1850. 
Repeal of Occasional Conformity, 1718 (see 

1711). 
The Triple and Quadruple Alliance, 1717, 

1718. 
De Foe writes " Robinson Crusoe," 1719. 
*The South Sea Bubble, 1720. 
Inoculation for small-pox introduced, 1721. 
Sir Robert Walpole first prime minister, 

1721. 
♦Modern cabinet system begins, 1721. 
Swift writes " Gulliver's Travels," 1726. 
War with Austria and Spain, 1727. 
George II., 1727. 

Laws punishing witchcraft with death re- 
pealed, 1736. 
Bishop Butler writes his " Analogy," 1736. 
John Wesley — Rise of the Methodists, 1738. 
Hogarth's pictures, 1738? 
War of " Jenkins's Ear," 1739. 
War of the Austrian Succession, 1741. 
The Place Act (limits the number of offices 

to be held by members of Parliament), 

1742. 
Battle of Dettingen, 1743. 
Jacobite rebellion in Scotland, in favor of the 

Young Pretender, 1745. 
The Pretender defeated at Culloden, 1746. 
Peace of Aix-la-Chapelle, 1748. 
Fielding writes " Tom Jones," 1749. 
Gray's Elegy, 1751. 
Clive takes Arcot, 1751. 
Introduction of the New Style, 1752. 



British Museum founded, 1753. 

Hume beg, s his History of England, 1754. 

Seven Years' War with France, 1756. 

" The Black Hole " of Calcutta, 1756. 
♦Give wins the battle of Plassey; foundation 

of England's Indian empire, 1757. 
♦Victory of Quebec, 1759 (England gains 
Canada) . 

George III., 1760. 

Johnson, Goldsmith, and Sterne write, 1760? 

Wedgewood establishes his potteries, 1760. 

Bribery Act (to punish bribery of voters), 
1762. 

Canada ceded to Great Britain, 1763. 

Wilkes attacks the government (" North 
Briton"), 1763. 

Hargreaves invents the spinning-jenny, 1764. 
♦Stamp Act, 1765 (repealed, 1766). 

Blackstone's Commentaries, 1765. 
♦Watt's steam-engine, 1765. 

Arkwright's spinning-machine, 1768. 

Letters of " Junius," 1769. 

Umbrellas introduced, 1770? 
♦Debates in Parliament regularly reported, 
1771. 

Pressing to death abolished, 1772. 

Royal Marriage Act, 1772. 
♦" The Boston Tea Party," 1773. 

The four " Intolerable Acts," 1774. 
♦Prison reforms by John Howard, 1774. 

Priestley discovers oxygen gas, 1774. 

The American Revolution begins, 1775. 
♦Declaration of American Independence, 1776. 

Gibbon begins his History of Rome, 1776. 

Smith's " Wealth of Nations," 1776. 

Roman Catholic Relief Act (repeals Act of 
1700), 1778. 

Act relieving Dissenting ministers and 
schoolmasters, 1779. 

Free trade granted to Ireland, 1780. 

Jeremy Bentham writes, 1780? 

Ducking-stool last used, 1780? 

Robert Raikes opens Sunday-schools, 1780? 

Lord George Gordon riots, 1780. 

Defeat of Cornwallis at Yorktown, 1781. 

Poynings' Law repealed, 1782 (see 1494). 

Great improvement in the manufacture of 
iron (puddling), 1784? 

Treaties of Paris and Versailles, 1783. 
♦Recognition of the independence of the 

United States, 1783. 
♦Mail coaches established, 1784. 

Board of Control for India, 1784. 

The London " Times " established, 1785. 

Trial of Warren Hastings, 1786. 

West Africa colonized, 1787? 



430 



LEADING FACTS OF ENGLISH HISTORY. 



Gainsborough dies, 1788. 

Burke's " Reflections on the French Revolu- 
tion," 1790. 

Robert Burns writes, 1790? 

Formation of the " United Irishmen," 1792. 

Sir J. Reynolds dies, 1792. 

War with France, 1793. 

Fire-engine patented, 1793. 

Bank of England suspends payment, 1797. 

Battle of the Nile, 1798. 
♦Vaccination introduced, 1799? 

Reform in care of the insane, 1800? 
*Union of Great Britain and Ireland, 1800. 

First Census of Great Britain, 1801. 

Colonization of Australia, 1802. 

Paley's " Natural Theology," 1803. 

Malthus writes on Population, 1803. 

Chimney-sweeping machine, 1805. 
♦Battle of Trafalgar, 1805. 

Abolition of the slave-trade, 1807. 

Many trades-unions formed, 1807? 

The Orders in Council, 1807. 

The Peninsula War, 1808-14. 

Luddite riots, 1811. 

George III. becomes insane; Prince of Wales 
appointed regent, 1811. 

Dissenters' Relief Bill, 1812. 

Debtors' Act (releases "poor debtors"), 
1812. 
♦First steamboat in Great Britain, 1812. 
♦Second War with America, 1812. 

Sheridan and Coleridge, 1812? 

Toleration granted to Unitarians, 1813. 

Walter Scott's " Waverley Novels," 1814. 

London lighted with gas, 1815? 

Davy invents the miner's safety-lamp, 1815. 
♦Battle of Waterloo, 1815. 

South Africa acquired, 1815. 

Wager of battle abolished, 1819. 

Macadamized roads, 1819? 

The Six Acts (relating to seditious meetings, 

etc.), 1819. 
♦First Atlantic steamship, 1819. 

George IV., 1820. 

Bill for the queen's divorce, 1820. 

Byron, Shelley, Wordsworth, Scott, Southey, 
Lamb, Moore, 1820? 

Cabs introduced, 1822. 

Society for the prevention of cruelty to ani- 
mals, 1824. 

Capital punishment greatly restricted, 1824. 

First temperance society, 1826. 

Flaxman, the sculptor, dies, 1826. 

Benefit of clergy abolished, 1827. 
♦Repeal of the Corporation Act, 1828, (see 
1661). 



♦Repeal of the Test Act, 1828 (see 1673). 
♦Catholic emancipation (repeals act of 1678), 
1829. 
Irish property qualification for franchise in- 
creased, 1829. 
Omnibuses introduced, 1829. 
♦Friction matches, 1829? 
The new police, 1829. 
William IV., 1830. 

Stephenson invents the first successful loco- 
motive (the "Rocket"), 1830. 
♦Opening of the Liverpool and Manchester 
Railway, 1830. 
Cobbett edits the Political Register, 1830? 
First iron vessels built, 1830? 
♦Passage of the Reform Bill, 1832. 
Party names of Liberal and Conservative be- 
gin to come into use, 1832. 
♦Emancipation of slaves in British colonies, 

1833. 

First Factory Act (regulates the employment 
of women and children), 1833. 

East India trade thrown open, 1833. 

New Poor-Law, 1834. 

Government grant to " British " and " Na- 
tional " (Dissenting and Church of Eng- 
land) schools, 1834. 

Municipal Corporation Act, 1835. 

All trades in towns declared free, 1835. 

Virtual abolition of the Press Gang, 1835. 

Civil Marriage Act (permits Dissenters to be 
married in their own chapels) , 1836. 

Commutation of Tithes Act, 1836. 

Sydney Smith writes. 

Victoria, 1837. 

Criminal law reforms, 1837. 

Abolition of the pillory, 1837. 

The electric telegraph in England, 1838? 

The Opium War, 1839. 

Union of Upper and Lower Canada, 1840. 

National Sanitary Commission, 1840, 1843. 
♦Penny postage established, 1840. 

Photography introduced, 1841? 

Privilege of peerage (equivalent to benefit of 
clergy) abolished, 1841. 

Chimney Sweep Act (forbids employment of 
children), 1842. 

China compelled to open a number of ports 
to trade, 1842. 
♦Grove discovers the law of the indestructi- 
bility of force, 1842. 

Percussion-lock muskets adopted, 1842. 

Thames Tunnel completed, 1842. 

Revolvers introduced, 1845? 

India rubber begins to be extensively used, 
1845? 






PRINCIPAL DATES IN ENGLISH HISTORY. 



431 



Jews admitted to municipal offices, 1846. 
*Famine in Ireland, 1846. 
Railway speculation and panic, 1846. 
♦Repeal of the Corn Laws ; beginning of free 

trade, 1846 (see 1360). 
♦Ether begins to be used in surgery, 1846. 
Sewing-machines, 1846? 
Government grants $50,000,000 for relief of 

the Irish famine, 1847. 
Chartist agitation, 1848. 
First government board of health, 1848. 
Repeal of the Navigation Act, 1849 ( see 
1651). 
♦First " World's Fair," 1851. 
Reaping and mowing machines, 1851? 
Repeal of window tax, 1851 (see 1696). 
Tenement House Act (one of a series for 

relief of working classes) , 1851. 
Colonization of New Zealand, 1852. 
Reform of Court of Chancery begins, 1852. 
The Crimean War, 1854. 
Hallam, Macaulay, Arnold, Froude, Free- 
man, Carlyle, Thackeray, Bronte, Dick- 
ens, "George Eliot," Mill, Darwin, 
Spencer, Faraday, Tyndall, Huxley, 
Ruskin, Tennyson, Browning, 1855? 
First large iron steamer built, 1855? 
Abolition of the newspaper tax, 1855. 
*Rise of cheap newspapers, 1855. 
Bessemer's iron and steel process, 1856. 
Right of search abandoned, 1856. 
The Indian Mutiny, 1857. 
Sovereignty of India given to the crown, 1858. 
♦First Atlantic cable, 1858; relaid, 1866. 
♦Jews admitted to Parliament, 1858. 
Abolition of property qualification for mem- 
bers of Parliament, 1858 (see 1711). 
♦Darwin publishes " The Origin of Species," 
1859. 
Flogging virtually abolished in the army, 

1859. 
Weather predictions begin, i860? 
♦The first English iron-clad built, 1861. 
Imprisonment for debt (except fraudulent) 

abolished, 1861. 
England recognizes the Confederates as 

"belligerents," 1861. 
The Trent AfTair, 1861. 
Repeal of the paper tax, 1861 (see 1694). 
♦The escape of the Alabama, 1862. 
♦Herbert Spencer publishes his " First Princi- 
ples," setting forth the philosophy of Evo- 
lution, 1862. 
London, underground railway opened, 1863. 
Steam fire engines introduced, 1863? 



♦Reform Act, extending the franchise, 1867. 
Establishment of the Dominion of Canada, 

1867. 
Compulsory church rates abolished, 1868. 
Public executions abolished, 1868. 
♦Disestablishment of the Irish branch of the 

Church of England, 1869. 
♦Woman suffrage (to single women and 

widows who are householders), 1869. 
♦Government ("Board") schools established, 
1870. 
Street railways, 1870? 

Women allowed to vote at school-board elec- 
tions and serve on school boards, 1870. 
Revision and consolidation of the statutes, 
1870. 
♦Civil service examinations established, 1870. 
Married Woman's Property Act, 1870, 1882. 
♦First Irish Land Bill, 1870. 
Purchase of commissions in the army abol- 
ished, 1871. 
Trades-unions recognized, 1871, 1875. 
♦Abolition of religious tests in the universi- 
ties, 1871. 
♦The Ballot Act, 1872. 
♦Joseph Arch organizes the Agricultural 

Union, 1872. 
♦Geneva Tribunal (allows damages in the 
Alabama case), 1872. 
National Federation of Employers, 1873. 
England purchases nearly half of the Suez 

Canal, 1875. 
The queen made Empress of India, 1877. 
♦Electric lighting in London, 1878? 
♦Telephone introduced, 1878? 
♦The Irish Land League, 1879. 
Anti-rent agitation in Ireland, 1879. 
Boycotting begins, 1880. 
Burial Bill (gives Dissenters right to bury in 
public churchyards with their own reli- 
gious services), 1880. 
Irish Coercion Act, 1881. 
Flogging abolished in the navy, 1881. 
♦Second Irish Land Act, 1881. 
Act facilitating free trade in land, 1882. 
Suppression of the Land League, 1882. 
♦Reform of Elections Act, 1884. 
♦Reform Act (extending suffrage to counties), 

1884. 
♦Over 2,500,000 new voters admitted under 
Reform Act of 1884, 1885. 
First " People's Parliament " (Peers, 549; 

H. of C, 670), 1886. 
The Queen's Jubilee, June 21, 1887. 
New Irish Crimes Act, 1887. 



432 DESCENT OF THE ENGLISH SOVEREIGNS FROM 
EGBERT TO QUEEN VICTORIA.* 



I, Egbert (descended from Cerdic, 495) first " King of the English," 828-837. 
2. Ethelwulf, 837-858. 



Ethelbald, 



Ethelbert, 

860-866. 



Ethelred I., 

866-871. 



I 

7. Edward I., 901-925. 



6. Alfred, 

871-901. 



15. Sweyn, the Dane, 1013. 



8. Ethelstan, 

925-940. 



9. Edinund, 

940-946. 



10. Edred, 

946-955- 



17. Canute, 

1017-1035. 



11. Edwin, 

955-959- 



12. Edgar, 

959-975- 



13. Edward II., 

975-979- 



* * 
Elgiva, ? j 



1 



18. Harold I., * 19. Hardicanute, 

1035-1040. Richard I., 1040-1042. 
Duke of Normandy. 



16. Edmund II. 

(Ironside), 1016- 
1016. 

Edgar Atheling, 
grandson of Edmund 
II. [should have suc- 
ceeded Harold II. 
(No. 21)]. 



Ethelred II., m. (2) Emma. 
979-1016. I * 

■ I Mill ■ 1 * * 

Godwin, Earl 



Richard II., Duke 
of Normandy. 



20. Edward III., 

the Confessor, 104 2-1066, 

second cousin of William | 
the Conqueror, m. Edith. 



of Kent. 



21. Harold II., 

1066-1066, slain 
at Hastings, 1066. 

Robert, Duke 



of Normandy. 



*** This sign shows that the person over 
whose name it stands was not in the direct 
line of descent. 



THE NORMAN KINGS. 22. William the Conqueror, 

1066-1087. Second cousin of 

Edward the Confessor (No. 20), 

m. Matilda of Flanders, a direct 

descendant of Alfred the Great (No. 6) 



Adela. 



23. William II., 1 2 4- Henry I., 

1087-1100. 1100-1135. 

I 25. Stephen 1 

Maud, or of Blois, 
Matilda, m. 1135-1154. 
(2) Geoffrey 
Plantagenet, 
Count of Anjou. 

THE HOUSE OF ANJOU. 1 26. Henry II.* 1154-1189. 

i 1 H 

Geoffrey. 28. John (Lackland) , 
1199-1216. 



27. Richard I. 

(Cceur de Lion), 
1189-1199. 



Arthur, mur- 
dered by John? 



G 

29. Henry III., 

1216-1272. 

! 



30. Edward I., 12 72-1 307. 

31. Edward II., 1 307-1 327. 

32. Edward III., 1327-1377, 
m. Philippa of Hainault. 



* The heavy lines indicate the Saxon or Early English anc 
Norman sovereigns with their successors. 

f Henry I. (No. 24) married Matilda of Scotland, a descend- 
ant of Edmund II. (Ironside) (No. 16). 

% Henry II. m. Eleanor of Aquitaine, the divorced queen oi 
France, thereby acquiring large possessions in Southern France 



Edward, the Lionel, D. 
Black Prince, of Clarence. 

3. Richard Philippa,'m. Ed- 
I., 1377-1399. mund Mortimer. 

Roger Mortimer. 



John of Gaunt, 
Duke of Lancaster. 



433 



Edmund Langley, 
Duke of York. 



Edmund Mortimer. Anne Morti 



* Richard II., before he was de- 
osed, had named Roger Mortimer 
his successor, but Roger died 
iefore the king. 

t Edmund Mortimer, son of Rog- 

Mortimer, stood next in the order 
if succession after Richard II., but 
lis claim was not allowed. He died 

24. 



HOUSE OF LANCASTER. 
34. Henry IV., 1399-7413- John Beau- 
35. Henry V., f ° rt > Earl of 
1413-1422, m. Cath- Son^ rset. \ 

~ irine of Valois "i**~ " J ohn ' Beau ~_ " 
who m. (2) Owen fort D . f 
I Tudor. Somerset. 

36. Henry | 1 

VI., 1422- Edmund 
1461, m. Tudor, m. Margaret 
Earl of Beaufort. 



[S 



ee p. 



Margaret 
of Anjou. Rich- 
mond. 
Edward, 
Prince of l See P- l6 3- 

Wales, m. ? 
- Anne Neville, 
who later m. 
Richard III. 
(No. 39). 

HOUSE OF TUDOR 



Richard, Earl 
of Cam bridge, 
m. Anne Mor- 
timer. (See 
dotted Hue.) 

Richard, D. 
63.] of York, d. 

1460. 



37. Edward 

IV., 1461- 

1483. 

* 



39. Rich- 
ard III., 

1483-1485, 
m. Anne 
Neville.*' 



40. Henry VII., m. Elizabeth 
\ 1485-1509. of York. 



\i. Henry VIII., 1509-1547, Margaret Tudor, 

m. 1. Catharine of Aragon, 2. m. James (Stuart) 

\nne Boleyn, 3. Jane Seymour, IV., King of Scot- 

Anne of Cleves, 5. Catharine land. 

Howard, 6. Catharine Parr. 

' " James 

I (Stuart) V. 

42. Edward | 

VI. (s. of 3), §Mary 
1547-1553. Queen of Scots, 
beheaded 1587. 

HOUSE OF STUART. 45. James (Stuart) 
I. of England, 
1603-1625. 



43. Mary (d. 

ofi),i553-i558, 

m. Philip II. 

of Spain. 



44. Eliza- 
heth (d. 

of 2), 1558- 
1603. 



Mary, m. 
Charles Bran- 
don, D. of 
Suffolk. 

Frances Bran- 
don, m. Henry 
Grey, D. of 
Suffolk. 

Lady Jane Grey, 

(m. Lord Dudley), 

beheaded 1554. 



38. Edward V. 

(murdered in 

the Tower by 

Richard III.?), 

1483-1483. 



46. Charles I., 

1625-1649.lt 



Elizabeth, m. Frederick, Elector-Palatine. 

I 



Sophia, m. the Elector of Hanover. 



Mary, m. William II. 
of Orange. 

I 49. William III. 

49. Mary, 50. Anne, James (the of0ra Jlg. e .'. be ' 



47. Charles 
II., 1660- 
1685. 



I.James II. 

1685-1688. 

—h 



m. William 1702-1714. OldPretend 



III. of Or- 
ange, afterward 
William III. of 

England. 



er),b 
d. 1765 

Charles (the Young Pre- 
tender), b. 1720, d. 1788. 



came William 

III. of England, 

1689-1702. 



HOUSE OF HANOVER. 

51. George, Elector of 

Hanover, became George 

I. of England, 1714-1727. 

52. 



George H.,.1727-1760. 

Frederick, Prince of Wales, 
(died before coming to the throne). 

53. George. III., 1760-1820. 

54. George ss-Wil- Edward, 
IV., 1820- liamlV., Duke of 



1830. 1830-1837. 



Kent.d. 
1820. 



t Henry VII. (called Henry of Richmond and Henry of Lan- 
caster) : by his marriage with Elizabeth of York, the rival claims 
of the Houses of Lancaster and York were settled and the House 
of Tudor began. 

§ Mary Queen of Scots stood next in order of succession after 
Mary (No. 43), provided Henry VIII. 's marriage with Catharine of Aragon (Mary's 
mother) was held not to have been dissolved. The Pope never recognized Henry's 
divorce from Catharine, or his marriage with Anne Boleyn, and therefore supported 
Mary Queen of Scots in her claim to the English crown after Mary's (43) death in 1558. 

**'Richard III. (No. 39) married Anne Neville, widow? of Edward Prince of Wales (son of Henry 
VI.) slain at Tewkesbury. tt Commonwealth and Protectorate 1649-1660. 



56. Victoria< • 

1837-','': 



434 



LEADING FACTS OF ENGLISH HISTORY. 



A SHORT LIST OF BOOKS ON ENGLISH HISTORY. 

[The * marks contemporary or early history.] 



I. The Prehistoric Period. 

Dawkins's Early Man in Britain. 

Geikie's Prehistoric Europe. 

Keary's Dawn of History. 

Wrights The Celt, the Roman, and the 
Saxon. 

Elton's Origins of English History. 

Rhys's Celtic Britain. 

Geoffrey of Monmouth's Chronicle (legend- 
ary). 

Geikie's Influence of Geology on English 
History, in Macmillan's Magazine, 1882. 

II. The Roman Period, 55, 54 B.C.; 

43-4IO A.D. 

*Caesar's Commentaries on the Gallic War 

(Books IV. and V., chiefly 55, 54 B.C.). 
*Tacitus's Agricola and Annals (chiefly from 

78-84). 
*Gildas's History of Britain (whole period). 
*Bede's Ecclesiastical History of Britain 
(whole period) . 
Wright's The Celt, the Roman, and the 

Saxon. 
Elton's Origins of English History. 
Pearson's England during the Early and 

Middle Ages. 
1 Scarth's Roman Britain. 

III. The Saxon, or Early English, 

Period, 449-1066. 

*The Anglo-Saxon Chronicle (whole period). 

*Gildas's History of Britain (Roman Con- 
quest to 560). 

*Bede's Ecclesiastical History of Britain 
(earliest times to 731). 

*Nennius's History of Britain (earliest times 
to 642). 

*Geoffrey of Monmouth's Chronicle (legend- 
ary) (earliest times to 689) . 

*Asser's Life of Alfred the Great. 



Elton's Origins of English History. 

Pauli's Life of Alfred. 

Green's Making of England. 

Green's Conquest of England. 

Freeman's Norman Conquest, vols. I. -II. 

Lappenberg's England under the Anglo- 
Saxon Kings. 

Pearson's History of England during the 
Early and Middle Ages. 

Pearson's Historical Atlas. 

Freeman's Origin of the English Nation. 

Stubbs's Constitutional History of England. 

Taine's History of English Literature. 

Church's Beginning of the Middle Ages. 

2 Armitage's Childhood of the English Na- 
tion. 

2 Grant Allen's Anglo-Saxon Britain. 

2 York-Powell's Early England. 

2 Freeman's Early English History. 

IV. The Norman Period, 1066- 
U54- 

*The Anglo-Saxon Chronicle (Peterborough 

continuation') (whole period). 
*Ordericus Vitalis's Ecclesiastical History (to 

1141). 
*Wace's Roman de Rou (Taylor's translation) 

(to 1106). 
*Bruce's Bayeux Tapestry Elucidated (with 

plates) . 
*William of Malmesbury's Chronicle (to 

1 142). 
*Roger of Hoveden's Chronicle (whole period). 
Freeman's Norman Conquest. 
Church's Life of Anselm. 
Taine's History of English Literature. 
Stubbs's Constitutional History of England. 
2 Freeman's Short History of the Norman 

Conquest. 
2 Armitage's Childhood of the English Nation. 
2 Johnson's Normans in Europe. 
2 Creighton's England a Continental Power. 



The best short history. 



1 The four best short histories. 



BOOKS ON ENGLISH HISTORY. 



435 



V. The Angevin Period, 1154- 
1399- 

♦Matthew Paris's Chronicle (1067-1253). 
^Richard of Devizes' Chronicle (1189-1192). 
*Froissart's Chronicles (1325-1400). 
Walsingham's Historia Brevis (1272-1422) 

(not translated). 
*Jocelin of Brakelonde's Chronicle (1173-1202) 

(see Carlyle's Past and Present, Book 

II.). 
Norgate's Angevin Kings. 
Taine's History of English Literature. 
Anstey's William of Wykeham. 
Pearson's England in the Early and Middle 

Ages. 
Maurice's Stephen Langton. 
Creighton's Life of Simon de Montfort. 
Stubbs's Constitutional History of England. 
Bemont's Vie de Simon de Montfort. 
Gairdner and Spedding's Studies in English 

Histoiy (the Lollards). 
Knight's Life of.Caxton. 
Seebohm's Essay on the Black Death (Fort- 
nightly Review, 1865). 
Maurice's Wat Tyler, et al. 
Charles's Vie de Roger Bacon. 
Buddensieg's Life of Wiclif. 
Burrows's Wicklif 's Place in History. 
Pauli's Pictures of Old England. 
1 Stubbs's Early Plantagenets. 
1 Rowley's Rise of the People. 
1 Warburton's Edward III. 
Shakespeare's John and Richard (Hudson's 

edition). 
Scott's Ivanhoe and the Talisman (Richard 

I. and John). 



VI. The Lancastrian Period, 1399- 
1461. 

*The Paston Letters (Gairdner's edition) 

(1424-1506). 
*Fortescue's Governance of England (Plum- 

mer's edition) (1460?). 
*Walsingham's Historia Brevis (not trans- 
lated) ( 1 272-1 422). 
* Hall's Chronicle (1 398-1 509). 
Brougham's England under the House of 

Lancaster. 
Besant's Life of Sir Richard Whittington. 
Taine's English Literature. 
Rand's Chaucer's England. 



Stubbs's Constitutional History of England. 
Strickland's Queens of England (Margaret of 

Anjou) . 
Reed's English History in Shakespeare. 
2 Gairdner's Houses of Lancaster and York. 
2 Rowley's Rise of the People. 
Shakespeare's Henry IV., V., and VI. 

(Hudson's edition). 



VII. The Yorkist Period, 1461- 
1485. 

*The Paston Letters (Gairdner's edition) 

(1424-1506). 
*Sir Thomas More's Edward V. and Richard 

III. 
*Hall's Chronicle (1398-1509). 
Hallam's Middle Ages. 
Gairdner's Richard III. 
Taine's English Literature. 
Stubbs's Constitutional History of England. 
2 Gairdner's Houses of Lancaster and York. 
2 Rowley's Rise of the People. 
Shakespeare's Richard III. (Hudson's edi- 
tion) , 



VIII. The Tudor Period, 1485- 
1603. 

*Holinshed's History of England (from earli- 
est times to 1577). 
*Lord Bacon's Life of Henry VII. 
*Latimer's 1st and 6th Sermons before Edward 

VI. and " The Ploughers" (1549). 
*Hall's Chronicle (1398-1509). 
Hallam's Constitutional History of England. 
Lingard's History of England (Roman 

Catholic) . 
Froude's History of England. 
Strickland's Queens of England (Catharine 
of Aragon, Anne Boleyn, Mary, Eliza- 
beth). 
Demaus's Life of Latimer. 
Froude's Short Studies. 
Nicholls's Life of Cabot. 
Dixon's History of the Church of England. 
Hall's Society in the Age of Elizabeth. 
Thornbury's Shakespeare's England. 
Macaulay's Essay on Lord Burleigh. 
Barrows's Life of Drake. 
Creighton's Life of Raleigh. 
Taine's English Literature. 



1 The three best short histories. 



2 The two best short histories. 



436 



LEADING FACTS OF ENGLISH HISTORY. 



1 Creighton's The Tudors and the Reforma- 
tion. 

1 Seebohm's Era of the Protestant Revolution. 

1 Moberby's Early Tudors. 

1 Creighton's Age of Elizabeth. 

Shakespeare's Henry VIII. (Hudson's edi- 
tion) . 

Scott's Kenilworth, Abbot, Monastery (Eliz- 
abeth, and Mary Queen of Scots). 

IX. The Stuart Period (First 

Part), i 603-1 649. 

*The Prose Works of James I. (1599-1625). 
*Fuller's Church History of Britain (earliest 

times to 1648) . 
♦Clarendon's History of the Rebellion (1625- 

1660). 
♦Memoirs of Col. Hutchinson (1616-1664). 
*May's History of the Long Parliament 
(1640-1643). 

Taine's History of English Literature. 

Speddings's Lord Bacon and his Times. 

Gardiner's History of England (1603-1642). 

Church's Life of Lord Bacon. 

Hallam's Constitutional History of England. 

Hume's History of England (Tory). 

Macaulay's History of England (Whig). 

Lingard's History of England (Roman Catho- 
lic). 

Strickland's Queens of England. 

Ranke's History of England in the XVII. 
Century. 

Guizot's Histoire 2 de Charles I. 

Bancroft's History of the United States. 

Macaulay's Essays (Bacon, Hampden, Hal- 
lam's History) . 

Goldwin Smith's Three English Statesmen 
(Cromwell, Pym, Hampden). 

3 Cordery's Struggle against Absolute Mon- 
archy. 

a Cordery and Phillpott's King and Common- 
wealth. 

3 Gardiner's Puritan Revolution. 

Scott's Fortunes of Nigel (James I.). 

X. The Commonwealth and Pro- 
tectorate, 1 649- 1 660 (see 

Preceding Period). 

♦Ludlow's Memoirs (1640-1668). 
*Carlyle's Life and Letters of Oliver Crom- 
well. 



Carlyle's Hero Worship (Cromwell). 

Guizot's Cromwell and the Commonwealth. 

Guizot's Richard Cromwell. 

Guizot's Life of Monk. 

Masson's Life and Times of Milton. 

Bisset's Omitted Chapters in the History of 

England. 
Pattison's Life of Milton. 
Scott's Woodstock (Cromwell). 

XI. Stuart Period (Second Part), 

1660-1714. 

*Evelyn's Diary (1641-1706). 

*Pepys's Diary (1659-1669). 

*Burnet's History of His Own Time (1660- 

1713)- 

Macaulay's History of England (Whig) . 

Hallam's Constitutional History of Eng- 
land. 

Taine's History of English Literature. 

Strickland's Queens of England. 

Ranke's History of England in the Seven- 
teenth Century. 

Hume's History of England (Tory). 

Brewster's Life of Newton. 

Lingard's History of England (Roman 
Catholic). 

Green's History of the English People. 

Stanhope's History of England. 

Lecky's History of England in the Eigh- 
teenth Century. 

Macaulay's Essays (Milton, Mackintosh's 
History, War of the Spanish Succession, 
and The Comic Dramatists of the Res- 
toration) . 

Creighton's Life of Marlborough. 

Guizot's History of Civilization (Chapter 
XIII). 

3 Morris's Age of Anne. 

3 Hale's Fall of the Stuarts. 

3 Cordery's Struggle against Absolute Mon- 
archy. 

Scott's Peveril of the Peak, and Old Mor- 
tality (Charles II.). 

Thackeray's Henry Esmond (Anne). 

XII. The Hanoverian Period, 
1 714 to the Present Time. 

♦Memoirs of Robert Walpole. 

♦Horace Walpole's Memoirs and Journals. 



1 The four best short histories. 

2 See Guizot's History of the Revolution for translation of all but introduction of 120 pages. 
8 The three best short histories. 



BOOKS ON ENGLISH HISTORY. 



437 



Hallam's Constitutional History of England 

(to death of George II., 1760). 
May's Constitutional History (1760-1870). 
Amos's English Constitution (1830-1880). 
Amos's Primer of the English Constitution. 
Bagehot's English Constitution. 
Lecky's History of England in the XVIII. 

Century. 
Walpole's History of England (1815-1860). 
Molesworth's History of England (1830- 

1870). 
Martineau's History of England (1816-1846) . 
Taine's History of English Literature. 
Bancroft's History of the United States. 
Bryant's History pf the United States. 
Stanhope's History of England (1713-1783). 
Green's Causes of the Revolution. 
Seeley's Expansion of England. 
Frothingham's Rise of the Republic. 
McCarthy's History of Our Own Times 

(1837-1880). 
McCarthy's England under Gladstone (1880- 

1884). 
Ward's Reign of Victoria (1837-1887). 
Southey's Life of Wesley. 
Southey's Life of Nelson. 
Wharton's Wits and Beaux of Society. 
Wake's Life of Wellington. 



Massey's Life of George HI. 

Goldwin Smith's Lectures (Foundation of the 

American Colonies,). 
Macaulay's Essays (Warren Hastings, Give, 

Pitt, Walpole, Chatham, Johnson, Ma- 
dame D'Arblay. 
Smiles's Life of James Watt. 
Sydney Smith's Peter Plymley's Letters. 
Smiles's Life of Stephenson. 
Thackeray's Four Georges. 
Smiles's Industrial Biography. 
Grant Allen's Life of Darwin. 
Ashton's Dawn of the XIX. Century in 

England. 
1 Ludlow's American Revolution. 
1 Rowley's Settlement of the Constitution 

(1689-1784). 
1 Morris's Early Hanoverians (George I. 

and II.). 
1 McCarthy's Epoch of Reform (1830-1850). 
1 Tancock's England during the American 

and European Wars (1765-1820). 
1 Browning's Modern England (1820-1874). 
Scott's Rob Roy, Waverley, and Redgauntlet 

(the Old and the Young Pretender, 1715, 

1745-53). 
Thackeray's Virginians (Washington). 
Dickens's Barnaby Rudge (1780). 



For fuller information in regard to authorities, see Professor Allen's Reader's Guide to 
English History; or, where a critical estimate of the author is desired, consult Professor 
Adams's Manual of Historical Literature, and Professor Mullinger's Authorities. For review 
articles, see Poole's Index to Reviews. 

In addition to the above list, the following general histories will be found excellent : — 



Hume's England (Brewer's Student's edi- 
tion), 1 vol. 

Green's Short History of the English People, 
1 vol. 

Bright's History of England, 3 vols. 

Burt's Synoptical History of England, 1 vol. 

On the Constitutional History of England: 
Taswell-Langmead's Constitutional His- 
tory, 1 vol.; Creasy's, 1 vol.". Ransome's, 
1 vol. 

Rogers's British Citizen, 1 vol. 

Works of Reference. 
Gneist's Constitutional History of England. 
Knight's Pictorial History of England. 
Taylor's Words and Places. 
P. V. Smith's English Institutions. 
Hallam's Middle Ages. 
Edmunds's Names of Places. 



Cassell's Dictionary of English History. 

Feilden's Short Constitutional History of Eng- 
land. 

Freeman's Rise of the English Constitution. 

Digby's History of the Law of Real Property. 

Blackstone's Commentaries. 

Mackay's History of Popular Delusions. 

Cunningham's Growth of English Industry 
and Commerce. 

Dowell's History of Taxation in England. 

J. E. T. Rogers's Work and Wages. 

Ackland and Ransome's Handbook of Eng- 
lish Political History. 

Spencer's Sociological Tables (England). 

Cutts's Scenes and Characters of the Middle 
Ages. 

Eccleston's English Antiquities. 

Jessopp's Life in Norfolk Six Hundred Years 
Ago (Nineteenth Century, 1883). 



1 The six best short histories. 



438 



LEADING FACTS OF ENGLISH HISTORY. 



Wright's Domestic Manners in England in 

the Middle Ages. 
Godwin's Archaeologist's Handbook. 
Parker's Our English Home (Oxford, i860). 
Bonn's Cyclopedia of Political Knowledge. 
Bevans's Statistical Map of England. 
Parker's Elements of Gothic Architecture. 
Johnston's Historical Atlas. 
Wilkins's Political Ballads. 
Bailey's Succession to the Crown. 

On Modern England and English 
Life, see 

Irving's Bracebridge Hall, and Sketch-Book. 
Emerson's English Traits. 
Colman's European Life and Manners. 
Hawthorne's Our Old Home, and Note Books. 
Howitt's Visits to Remarkable Places, and 
Rural Life. 



Timbs's Abbeys and Castles of England and 
Wales. 

Heath's English Peasantry. 

Taine's Notes on England. 

Nadal's London Society. 

Hoppins's Old England. 

Higginson's English Statesmen. 

R. G. White's England Without and Within. 

Escott's England. 

Society in London, by a Foreign Resident 
(Harper). 

Patten's England as seen by an American 
Banker. 

O. W. Holmes's One Hundred Days in Eu- 
rope, 

R. L. Collier's English Home Life. 

Laugel's L'Angleterre. 

Daryl's La Vie Publique en Angleterre. 

Max O'Rell's John Bull et son He. 

Badeau's English Aristocracy, 



Statistics for 1887. 

Area of England and Wales, 58,310 square miles. 

Extreme length, 365 miles; extreme width, 311 miles. 

No part more than about 120 miles from the sea. 

Mean temperature during the year in Great Britain, 49.06 . 

Population of England and Wales, 27,870,586. 

Population to square mile, 482 (the most densely populated country in Europe, except Belgium)* 

Area of Great Britain, 88,006 square miles. 

Population of Great Britain, 31,819,979. 

Area of Great Britain and Ireland, 120,832 square miles. 

Population of Great Britain and Ireland, 37,020,000. 

Population of London, about 4,250,000. 

About one-third of the entire population of England and Wales is in the cities. 

Area of British Empire, 9,079,711 square miles. 

Population of British Empire, 320,676,000. 

National debt of Great Britain and Ireland, ^748,750,000 ($3,623,950,ooo^. 1 

Average rate of taxation per head, ^2.1.1 ($9 > 94). 1 

Church of England (membership), 13,500,000.* 

Dissenting churches, 12,500,000. 2 

Roman Catholics, 2,500,000. 

Number of paupers in receipt of relief, 807,639. 

Total number of children of school age (5-15)1 5>4 2 6,49°- 

Total attendance (not including private schools), 3,273,124. 

Total British army, 676,156. 

Total effective force, 200,785. 

Total navy, 60,632. 

Total number of vessels in navy, 258. 

Iron-clads (ranging from 1230 to 11,800 tons each), 76. 



1 Calling the pound $4.84. 



* Some estimates make them about equal. 



STATISTICS. 



439 



Of the cultivated land of England and Wales, something over one-fourth, is held by 874 per. 

sons, while about 10,000 persons hold two-thirds of the whole. 
Number of men in army and navy, 1 out of 26. 
National debt per capita, $127. 

Total wealth of Great Britain and Ireland, $45,000,000,000 (the wealthiest nation on the globe). 
Annual increase of wealth, $375,000,000. 
Average annual income, $165. 
Death rate (England and Wales), 19.3 per 1000. 

Statistics of the United States (for Comparison). 

Area (including Alaska), 3,611,849 square miles. 

Population, about 60,000,000. 

National debt, $1,380,087,279. 

Total wealth, $35,000,000,000. 

Annual increase of wealth, $825,000,000. 

Average annual income, $165. 

Taxation per capita, $6.00. 

Standing army, 26,000. , 

Navy, 10,340. 

Number of men in army and navy, I out of 322. 

From 1840-1880 the wealth of Great Britain doubled; that of the United States increased ten- 
fold. 

Authorities: — Encyclopaedia Britannica; Scribner's Statistical Atlas; Mulhall's Balance- 
Sheet of the World; Atkinson's Strength of Nations; Jean's Supremacy of England; 
The Statesman's Year-Book. 



440 



LEADING FACTS OF ENGLISH HISTORY. 



INDEX. 



Abolition of the slave trade, 331. 

slavery, 354. 
Acadia, villagers expelled, 320. 
Act of Attainder, 285. 

Settlement, 282, 299, 301, 306. 

Supremacy, 211. 

Toleration, 282. 

Uniformity, 260. 
Addison, Joseph, 299. 
Agincourt, battle of, 156. 
Agricola, Roman governor, 33. 
Aix la Chapelle, treaty of, 316. 
Alabama, privateer, 372. 
Albert, Prince Consort, 362. 

his death, 370. 
Albion, derivation of the name, 9. 
Alfred the Great, 40. 

his laws and translations, 42. 

his navy, 42; his victories, 41. 
America discovered, 186. 
American colonies taxed, 324. 

Revolution, 328. 

civil war, 370, 371. 
Anderida, siege of, 33. 
Andros, Sir Edmund, 325. 
Angevins, or Plantagenets, 87. 
Angles, invasion by, 34. 
Anne Boleyn, 191, 194, 198. 

of Cleves, 198. 

Queen, 289, 299. 
Anselm, Archbishop, 72, 73. 
Arch, Joseph, 374. 
Architecture, 56, 84, 147, 226, 303. 
Arthur, King, 34. 

Prince, murdered, 103. 
Articles of Faith, 202. 
Artillery introduced, 184. 
Atlantic cable laid, 368. 
Augustine reaches England, 35. 
Austrian Succession, War of, 316. 

Bacon, Lord Francis, 218. 

his impeachment, 236, 302. 
f Friar Roger, in, 128. 



Bacon, Sir Nicholas, 2 16. 

Baliol, awarded Scotch crown, 117. 

owns allegiance to Edward, 117. 

rebels, and is overthrow^ 117. 
Bank of England, 288. 
Barebones's Parliament, 250. 
Baronage, sketch of, 359. 
Battle of Agincourt, 156. 

Blenheim, 294. 

Bosworth Field, 172. 

the Boyne, 286. 

Bunker Hill, 328. 

Crecy, 127. 

Culloden. 317. 

Dettingen, 316. 

Edgehill, 244. 

Flodden Field, 190, 

Fontenoy, 316. 

Hastings, 60. 

Lewes, 113. 

Marston Moor, 245. 

Naseby, 245. 

New Orleans, 335. 

the Nile, 333. 

Plassey, 318. 

Ramillies, 294. 

St. Albans, 165. 

Sedgemoor, 271. 

Sheriffmuir, 310. 

Shrewsbury, 152. 

the Standard, 76. 

Tewkesbury, 167. 

Tinchebrai, 74. 

Towton, 165. 

Trafalgar, 333. 

Wakefield, 165. 

Waterloo, 335. 

Yorktown, 329. 
Bayeux Tapestry, 61, 84. 
Becket, Thomas, chancellor, 89* 

leaves England, 91. 

returns, 93; is murdered, 93* 
Benevolences, 169, 175. 
Bible, the first English, 138. 



INDEX. 



441 



Bill of Rights, 282, 301. 
Black Death, the, 132. 

Hole of Calcutta, 317. 

Prince, 128, 130, 131. 
Bloody Assizes, the, 272. 
Boadicea, her revolt, 21. 

her death, 22. 
Board schools, 375. 
Boleyn, Anne, 191; executed, 198. 
Books, the earliest, 55. 
Boston Tea Party, 327. 
Bretigny, peace of, 13O. 
Bright, John, 366. 
Britain, primitive, its climate, etc., 1. 

becomes England, 39. 
Britons, their bravery, 34. 
Bronze Age, 7. 

men, Greek account of, 8. 
Brougham, Lord Henry, 346, 353, 361. 
Bruce, Robert, his revolt, 120. 

king of Scots, 123. 
Buckingham, Duke of, 171. 
Bunyan, John, 261, 302. 
Butler, Bishop, 302. 

Cabal, the, 258. 

Cabinet government, rise of, 308. 

Cabot, John and Sebastian, 185, 226. 

Cade, Jack, his rebellion, 161. 

Caesar, his campaigns, 18, 19, 20. 

Calais taken, 129. 

Calendar, correction of, 318. 

Canal system begun, 338. 

Cannon, first use of, 128. 

Canute (Knut) succeeds his father, 45. 

divides England into four earldoms, 45. 
Caractacus, captive, his dignity, 20. 
Caroline, Queen, 314. 

of Brunswick, Queen, 346. 
Catharine of Aragon, 191. 
Catholic emancipation, 347. 
Cato Street conspiracy, 346. 
Caxton introduces printing, 167, 168. 
Cecil, Sir William, 210. 
Celts, early, their condition, 8. 
Channel, the British, in history, 15. 
Charles I., King, 238-247. 
II., King, 257-269. 
Charter, the Great, 105, 108, 109, 112, 

142. 
Charter, Henry I.'s, 73. 

^artists, the, 363. 
^haucer, 133, 137, 141. 
Christianity introduced, 22. 

-'<-<• ««»cts <3.. 

1, 203. 



Church property confiscated, 195, 203. 

rates abolished, 374. 
Churchill, John, Duke of Marlborough, 278, 

293» 3 6l « 
Clarkson, Thomas, 332. 
Climate of England, 16. 
Clive, Lord, his victories, 317. 
Cobden, Richard, 366. 
Columbus, his discoveries, 185, 187, 226. 
Commercial position of England, 16. 
Common law, 53. 
Commons, House of, supreme, 358. 

rise of the House of, 114. 
Commonwealth, protectorate, 247. 
Compurgation, 52. 
Constitutions of Clarendon, 91. 
Corn Laws, the, 365 ; repealed, 366. 
Cornwallis, Lord, his defeat, 329. 
Corporation Act, 260, 347. 
Counties palatine, 64. 
Courts, reformed, 381. 
Covenanters, the, 241, 261. 
Cranmer, Dr. Thomas, 193. 
Crimea, war in the, 369. 
Cromwell, Oliver, 241, 248, 250, 252, 254. 

Richard, 255, 256. 

Thomas, 194; beheaded, 198. 
Crosby Hall, London, 178. 
Crusades, 102. 
Cuthbert, monk and missionary, 36. 

" Danegeld," tribute to Northmen, 44. 

Danish names, 14; invasion, 40. 

Darwin, Charles, 379. 

David I., of Scotland, invades England, 

76. 
Davy, Sir Humphry, 340. 
Declaration of Right, 280. 
De Foe, Daniel, 302. 
De Montfort, Earl Simon, 112, 143, 361. 

defeats Henry III., 113. 

summons a parliament, 114. 

his monument still unbuilt, 114. 
Despenser, Hugh, and his son, 123. 
Disraeli, Lord Beaconsfield, 361, 373. 
Dissenters relieved, 375. 
" Divine Right of Kings," 232, 238, 290, 296, 

300. 
Domesday Book, 67. 
Dover, treaty of, 264. 
Drake, Sir Francis, 220. 
Druids, their abode, teaching, etc., 10. 

expedition against, 21. 
Dryden, John, 302. 

Dudley, Lord Gulford, 205; beheaded, 206. 
Dunstan, Archbishop of Canterbury, 43. 



442 



LEADING FACTS OF ENGLISH HISTORY. 



Education Bill, 361, 374. 

Edward, Prince, 45 ; Confessor, 46. 

I., King, summons Parliament, 115. 

builds Conway and other castles, 116. 
II., his incapacity, 123. 

deposed and murdered, 124. 
III., king at fourteen, 124; his death, 134. 
IV., King, 167. 
V., Prince, 170. 
VI., King, 201. 

(Black Prince), 128, 130, 131. 
Egbert, King, 39. 
Eleanor, Queen, her heroism, 113. 
her death, 118; crosses, 118. 
her tomb, 119. 
Eliot, Sir John, 240. 
Elizabeth, Queen, 206, 208-222. 

of York, 172. 
Elliott, Ebenezer, corn-law poet, 366. 
England, early, its geography, etc., 12. 

its commercial situation, 16. 
English people, their progress, 380-388. 
history, its characteristics, 388. 
-speaking race, its unity, 388. 
Entail, 119, 143. 

Factory reform, 354. 

Fairfax, Lord Thomas, 248. 

Fair Rosamond, 94. 

Feudal System, 50, 80, 269. 

Field of the Cloth of Gold, 190. 

Fielding, Henry, 302. 

Fire, great, of London, 262. 

Fisher, Bishop John, executed, 195. 

Five Members, attempted arrest of the, 242. 

Folkland, 50. 

Fox, Charles James, 332. 

Franklin, Benjamin, 326. 

Frederick the Great, of Prussia, 318. 

Freemen their duties, 50. 

Free trade, 366. 

French Revolution, 332. 

Friction match, the, 355. 

Frobisher, Sir Martin, his voyages, 217. 

Fry, Elizabeth, philanthropist, 332. 

Fulton, Robert, his steamboat, 340. 

Gas, burning, first used, 339. 
Gaveston, Piers, banished, 122. 

returns, 122; beheaded, 122. 
Geneva, international court at, 372. 
George, of Denmark, Prince, 289. 
I., King, 306-314. 
II., King, 314-322. 
III., King, 323-343. 
IV., King, 344-348. 



Gibraltar taken, 294. 

Gladstone, William Ewart, 362, 371. 

Glencoe, massacre of, 287. 

Glendower, Owen, 151. 

Gloucester, appointed Protector, 169. 

Gordon, Lord George, riots, 330. 

" Gospel Oaks," 322. 

Government, its stability, 357. 

Gregory I. and English slaves in Rome, 35 

Pope, sends missionaries, 35. 

VII., his appeal to Willif-n, 65. 
Grey, Earl, 353. 

Lady Jane, 204; behead 
Grove, Sir William, 379. 
Guilds, 57, 147. 
Gunpowder plot, 232. 

Habeas Corpus Act, 269, 361. 
Hampden, John, 238, 241. 
Hampton Court Conference, 231. 
Harold, King, 47, 58. 

his death, 60; his grave, 60. 
Hastings, Warren, impeached, 330. 
Henry I., issues a charter, 73. 
seizes Normandy, 74. 
II., his charter and reforms, 88. 
quarrels with Becket, 90, 93. 
III., King, 109; his extravagance, ii 
rebuilds Westminster Abbey, n 
IV., Duke of Lancaster, king, 150. 

his death, 154. 
V., Prince, 154; king, 155. 

conquest of France, 155, 157. 
VI., King, 158. 

marries Margaret of Anjou', 16c 
dies a prisoner in the Tower, i( 
VII., marries Elizabeth of York, 17; 
his chapel, 186. 
VIII. , King, 187; his death, 200. 

his marriages, 190, 194, 198, 19 
Hereward, 62. 

High Commission Court, 211. 242, 275. 
Hildebrand (Pope Gregory .II.), 65. 
Hill, Sir Rowland, 363. 
Howard, Catharine, 199. 

John, philanthropiit, 332. 
Hume, David, 302. 
Hundred Years' War, 126, 131. 

India, rebellion in, 369. 

Clive in, 3 

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